"Busting Myths...": Centre Explains 1% Covid Vaccine Wastage Policy

Covid vaccine wastage has become a major topic as governments scramble to balance a shortfall in doses and the need to vaccinate as many people as possible

The government on Friday said it is "proactively trying to curb wastage of COVID-19 vaccines" and that it is "guiding" states and UTs in "effectively using doses to fight the pandemic". It also hit back at "media reports stating the Ministry of Health's insistence in keeping vaccine wastage below one per cent is unrealistic and undesirable". The statement comes a day after a report said Jharkhand wasted 33.95 per cent of doses in May. Chhattisgarh, the report said, wasted 15.79 per cent and Madhya Pradesh around seven per cent. A day later the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand hit back, calling the central government's data "old" and insisting that its wastage rate was just 1.5 per cent.