How Kerala attained overutilisation of Covid vaccine

Kerala's health care sector made another remarkable achievement in Covid management by not only avoiding vaccines wastage but also achieving overutilisation. This was possible due to the expertise of nurses who administer the jabs and meticulous planning and coordination at the grassroot level.

Considering the possibility of wastage, each vial contains a little bit more than the mentioned quantity. Excess quantity from each vial helped in vaccinating more persons, thereby helping the state negate waste and achieve overutilisation.

As per government data, Kerala and West Bengal recorded negative wastage of Covid-19 vaccines in May, saving 1.10 lakh and 1.61 lakh doses respectively. While Kerala reported -6.37 per cent vaccine wastage, West Bengal recorded -5.48 per cent. So far, 86.21 lakh people in Kerala were vaccinated, of which 21.97 lakh have received the second dose as well.

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Kerala government attributes maximum utilisation vaccines to meticulous planning. Each vial of vaccine is opened only after ensuring that there are adequate takers as the vaccine is to be utilised within four hours of opening the vial.

The vaccination centers and the ASHA staff work in coordination so that in case of a shortage for one or two beneficiaries towards the end of a day, they can arrange doses.

Health department sources said that public cooperation was also a key factor in attaining zero wastage. If the number of beneficiaries at the end of a day is low, health workers advise them to come back the next day to avoid wastage.

Kerala Health department nodal officer Dr Amar Fettle said that nurses in Kerala were being given training constantly in vaccinations and hence, they could ensure that the correct quantity of vaccine was used. Kerala had attained 100 per cent vaccine utilisation in earlier instances of the H1N1 vaccination drive.