COVID vaccine wastage concern for administration in Rourkela

ROURKELA: At a time when Covid-19 vaccination programme has drastically slowed down in Sundargarh, wastage of doses in Rourkela has emerged as a cause of concern for the district administration. The wastage of doses has been attributed to people booking slots on the CoWIN portal but not turning up at the vaccination centres.

In Rourkela, the Covid-19 vaccination drive is being carried out in 12 centres with capacity of 500 each for the 18-44 age group. For people aged above 45 years, each centre has capacity to administer 200 doses. For both groups, online registration is mandatory. 

In the rest of Sundargarh district including three urban centres and 17 blocks, vaccination of 18 plus age group is yet to start. The vaccination drive is being carried out for  people aged above 45 years only at 45 of the 64 centres. Vaccination at these centres is being done with offline spot registration.

However, at all the centres in the district, except those in Rourkela, the vaccination of people is subject to availability of doses. Expressing concern over the matter, Rourkela ADM and incident commander for Covid-19, Aboli Sunil Naravane had tweeted, “Lakhs and lakhs are waiting for vaccines on one hand and people failing to turn up after booking slots on the other and vaccine is wasted. Every life is precious and every vaccine is important. Let’s protect both.” 

Sources said at each of the 12 centres in Rourkela, two to nine doses are wasted daily during sessions for both age groups. The vaccination centre at Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) on Saturday saw wastage of nine doses during the session for people aged between 18 and 44 years with only 471 of 500 beneficiaries taking the shots. The wastage was two doses during the above 45 years session with just 158 of 200 beneficiaries turning up at the centre. A single vial of the vaccine is used for 10 doses and has to be used within four hours of opening. 

Medical officer in-charge of vaccination at RGH Dr Pooja Pati said, “We request people to take their vaccine as per schedule else not book slots at all and leave it for other needy persons.” Naravane said at each centre, 30-40 persons are not turning up even after booking slots. She said the administration is additionally burdened to reschedule the unopened vials for next slots. 

For opened vials, the remaining doses are being allotted to frontline workers or others after changing the schedule. She said there is no penal provision for this and the administration is making all out efforts towards vaccination mobilisation. Till Friday, 3,20,519 doses were administered in the district. Even as the wastage in Rourkela is well under permissible limits, every dose counts.