Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns on vaccine wastage emerging from the Covid-19 inoculation drive.

 

What is vaccine wastage?

• Vaccine wastage is an expected component of any large vaccination drive, and a vaccine is procured from the maker with an estimated wastage. For each vaccine type, the wastage has to be within recommended limits.
• High vaccine wastage inflates vaccine demand and increases unnecessary vaccine procurement and supply chain costs.
• The vaccine wastage rate is defined as 100 minus the vaccine usage rate.The wastage rate directly determines the “wastage factor” that needs to be established for each vaccine in the immunisation schedule to accurately plan vaccine needs.

 

How is wastage factor calculated? How much is it in the ongoing programme?

• Wastage Multiple Factor (WMF) is calculated from the formula WMF = 100/(100 – wastage).
• In the Centre’s operational guidelines on Covid-19 vaccination, WMF has been calculated at 1.11 after assuming an allowable programmatic wastage of 10%.
• Vaccine wastage is one of the key factors to be considered for vaccine forecasting and need estimation.

 

How does vaccine wastage happen?

• It is broadly divided into two categories: wastage in unopened vials, and in opened vials.
• Wastage in unopened vials can occur due to six broad reasons: if the expiry date has been reached; if the vaccine is exposed to heat; if the vaccine has been frozen; breakage; missing inventory and theft; and while discarding unused vials returned from the vaccination site.
• Wastage in opened vials can occur due to five broad reasons: while discarding remaining doses at the end of the session; not being able to draw the number of doses in a vial; submergence of opened vials in the water; suspected contamination; and poor vaccine administration practices.

 

At what stages can wastage occur?

• Wastage occurs at three levels: during transportation; during cold chain point; and at a vaccination site — both at service and delivery levels.

 

Why are certain states showing a higher vaccine wastage?

At the vaccination site, the wastage of vaccines has a direct relationship with session size — the number of beneficiaries per session — and vial size.

1. The first reason identified by the Centre is inadequate planning of sessions.

• For instance, if the vial contains doses for 10 people and only six turn up, four doses can go waste. The Centre has advised the states to mobilise people and not to open the vials if they don’t have 10 people.

 

2. The second reason identified by the Centre is inadequate training.

• Vaccinators are ending up drawing, maybe, only nine doses against ten doses.

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/covid-vaccine-wastage-pm-modi-coronavirus-inoculation-drive-7236405/