From the time the nationwide immunization drive was launched on 16^th January, over 25,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been wasted due to low turnout at vaccination centres throughout Tamil Nadu. The directorate of public health responsible for this initiative in the state, said that approximately 15% of the vaccine shots have been wasted after immunizing 1,97,114 people till Wednesday.

Several elderly and vulnerable people are waiting for their turns for taking the vaccine shots in Tamil Nadu. Senior epidemiologists, infectious diseases experts and virologists are demanding that the COVID-19 vaccination should be opened now to the general public and priority be given to elderly and people with comorbid conditions.

Dr Subramaniam Swaminathan, Infectious diseases expert, who had treated COVID-19 patients, said that this will help to reduce wastage. Few people might jump into the queue, but that is still better than wasting precious vaccine doses. Almost 100 countries across the world are still waiting to receive their first dose.

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union health minister recently tweeted that the government is confirming that no vial is wasted and in case of absenteeism, the vaccines are allotted to other recipients.

The COVID-19 vaccines: Covishield or Covaxin are in 10 or 20 dose vials and used within four hours after being opened. However, due to poor turnout, several vials that are containing unused doses are being moved into special boxes and are labelled as “unusable vials”. Public health officials said that vaccinators cannot give the vaccine to eager elderly people or those with comorbid conditions as the national programme does not permit vaccination of people who have not been registered on the centralized Cowin portal.

Dr T Jacob John, senior virologist said that when COVID-19 cases are dropping, the goal should be prevention of any severe disease and death with proper strategies for safe reopening. The first dose of the vaccine to the targeted groups should be given as early as possible even if it delays the second dose to healthcare workers. Studies show that the efficacy of the Covishield vaccine is from 54% to 82% if the vaccine’s 2^nd dose of Covishield vaccine is delayed from 28 days to 12 weeks.

C Vijayabaskar, State health minister said that the state has already written to the Centre to seek permission to giving the vaccine to vulnerable groups. The Union health ministry said that it cannot allow the select states to change the course of the national programme. While interacting with the state officials on a video conference call on Tuesday, central government officials asked the state to finish the first dose of immunizations for healthcare providers in another 10 days, however, did not permit the state to expand its coverage to elderly group yet. Dr T S Selvavinayagam, Director of public health said that the state has informed the healthcare workers that it will cancel their “priority” if they don’t take the vaccine.

Source : ET Healthworld