Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 23

The Chandigarh vaccination team extracted 5,671 more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine between May 1 and July 13.

Doses extracted

“Doses wasted and maximum possible doses extracted beyond the labeled quantity are taken into account to arrive at vaccine wastage figures for a state,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

“Between May 1 and July 13, a total of 2.49 lakh doses have been wasted, while 41.12 lakh extra doses have been extracted beyond the labeled quantity,” said the ministry.

No vaccine wastage was recorded in Chandigarh during the 75-day period.

Punjab, on the other hand, failed to extract extra doses of Covid-19 and wasted 13,613 vaccine doses. Haryana extracted 1,27,521 more doses in the same duration.

The data on Covid-19 vaccine doses wasted and extra doses extracted between May 1 and July 13 was tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Health Ministry.

The ministry stated that while there had been instances of vaccine wastage in states and union territories, extra doses had also been extracted from a given vial as per the information on the CoWin portal.

Till July 20, Chandigarh had been supplied 5,96,940 doses of free Covid-19 vaccine.

A covishield vial constitutes of 10 doses of 0.5 ml. However, each vial has an extra dose to account for spillage. The healthcare workers in Chandigarh have been able to save that extra dose by administering the vaccine judiciously.

The syringe has a capacity to hold 0.5 ml medicine, which helps in the accurate measurement.