Goa pips Kerala for top spot in ‘not wasting vaccines’ list

PANAJI: Goa’s efficient utilisation of vaccines has earned the tiny state praise from the Centre, as it administered more doses than those allotted to it by making use of leftover doses in vials. The Union ministry of health and family welfare rated Goa the highest, above even Kerala, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh.
State immunisation officer Dr Rajendra Borkar said that Goa has been able to get more out of the vials. Instead of ten doses per vial, vaccination centres have been using leftover doses in vaccine vials to vaccinate a total of 11-12 people per vial, he said.
“We are very careful while administering the vaccine, as this is a very precious commodity and we don’t want any wastage. We instruct centres to open the vial only when there are atleast ten people in the queue, since vials have to be discarded four hours after opening,” he said.
Reducing wastage depends on accuracy and efficiency of the vaccinator and quality of syringes. “If we get 11-12 doses per vial throughout the day but open the last vial for the day when there are only two people in the queue, it is wastage,” said the nodal officer at TB hospital, Margao.
“That’s why at the end of the day’s session, before opening the last vial around 3:30-4 pm, we ask the people in the queue to call their friends, relatives and colleagues so that at least ten people will benefit from the vial. Otherwise, we ask them to return the next day.”
The centre vaccinated 386 people using only 33 vials on Saturday, administering the dose to 12 people from each vial.
Initially, the state had reported some wastage, and the health secretary asked for this to be checked. The importance of reducing wastage is also brought up at every video conference, Borkar said.
Another vaccinator told TOI that the quality of syringes they received initially were tight and of good quality, which helped reduce wastage. “The ones we have received now tend to leak, so we often have to manage only ten per vial. Despite this, we have been efficient in our use,” the vaccinator said.
When the vaccination drive was in its early days, small centres would open a vial at 9am and not even receive ten people, resulting in them having to discard the entire vial. “Now, there is more eagerness than hesitancy,” the vaccinator said.