Maharashtra had zero wastage of COVID-19 vaccine doses between May 1, 2021 to July 13, 2021, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
According to the reply, eight States in the country have recorded wastage of vaccine doses, with Bihar topping the list (1,26,743 vaccine doses wasted), followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura, during the period.
The Ministry also informed the Lok Sabha that the number of extra vaccine doses extracted by Maharashtra during this period was 3,59,493. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat top the list of extra doses, with 5,88,243 and 4,62,819 extra doses, respectively.
A total of 2.49 lakh doses had been wasted, while 41.12 lakh extra doses were extracted beyond the labelled quantity, the reply said. “The pace of vaccination across the country is amongst the fastest in the world. While there have been instances of vaccine wastage in States/UTs but at the same time extra doses have also been extracted from a given vial as per information on Co-Win portal. Doses wasted and maximum possible doses extracted beyond the labelled quantity are taken into account to arrive at vaccine wastage figures for a State,” it said.
Maharashtra also stands at the second position in the list of free COVID-19 vaccine supply by the Central government. The reply said that the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses supplied to Maharashtra is 3,14,78,860, while that to Uttar Pradesh is 3,44,61,550.
According to the Centre’s data, even as Maharashtra stands second after Uttar Pradesh in the list of people vaccinated, at least once it tops the list with 92,75,340 people having taken both the doses of the vaccine. In Uttar Pradesh, the number is 66,57,551. The total number of people with at least one dose is highest in U.P. at 3,43,94,183, while that for Maharashtra is 3,06,36,740.