Over 1 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses in Karnataka wasted since January

The state of Karnataka has recorded wastage of over 1 lakh doses right from the beginning of the vaccination drive on January 20, 2021. According to the health department, the state has wasted 2.29 % of doses on an average per district.

From the districts, Bagalkot recorded the highest wastage with 22,196 doses, after which comes Hassan district with 17,028 at 8.01 %, according to Prajavani as quoted by the health officials.

The key reason for wastage is the need to administer vaccine doses to 10 people per vial in the first drive, the state officials to local media. In an ideal scenario, around 10 people should be vaccinated in a span of four hours from opening up the vial.

Bagalkot district health officer, Dr. Ananth Desai revealed that incorrect statistics on the CoWIN portal regarding the doses administered have also led to wastage in Gulegagudda taluk of Bagalkot. He confirmed that the portal depicted utilization of 34,000 doses though 54,800 vials were used for both Covaxin and Covishield.

Dr. Desai told Prajavani, “Due to this erroneously published data, Guledagudda taluk had wasted over 20,000 vials of vaccine. It is a human error however, and we are rectifying the data on the portal.”

Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad district, Nitesh Patil said, “All precautions have been taken to completely stop the vaccine wastage or minimise it in the district.”

Keeping the wastage aside, 10 districts of the stage have accomplished over the desired target for vaccination, with Shivamogga ahead by 6 %, ranks first in the 10 districts. This was possible because of an increase in awareness and regulating the optimized use of vaccines, said Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner KB Shivakumar.

The other nine districts are Udupi with 5.57 %, Dakshina Kannada – 4.71%, Dharwad -4.25%, Haveri- 4.16 %, Uttara Kannada- 3.65%, Chikkamagaluru-2.25 %, Belagavi-1.72 %, Kodagu- 1.36 %, Bengaluru (BBMP area)- 1.29 % and Mysuru with 0.13%, where vaccine supply has played a pivotal role.

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