LAHORE: As many as 38,557 doses of coronavirus vaccines went waste in different areas of Punjab owing to temperature issues in cold storage and transportation problems between cities during the last six months.

However, Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Sarah Aslam rejected the reports terming it a ‘normal practice’.

According to the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) report submitted to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) [available with Dawn] showed that 38,557 doses were wasted in different vaccine centres of 36 districts.

As many as 2,959 doses were wasted in Lahore, 1,268 (Mandi Bahauddin), 1,170 (Bahawalnagar), 1,140 (Bahawalpur), 1,132 (Sahiwal), 1,111 (Chakwal), 1,108 (Mianwali), 1,098 (Jhelum), 1,096 (Muzaffargarh), 1,085 (Gujranwala), 1,054 (Bhakkar), 1,050 (Faisalabad), 1,045 in Multan and other districts of the province.

EPI Director Dr Mukhtar told Dawn that the unused doses went waste. “When a vaccine vial is opened, it contains eight doses with a life of six hours.”

Official terms wastage normal

He said if no one visited the centre after opening the vial, the remaining doses would go waste after six hours.

He said: “Doses go waste if any vial breaks down during transportation. We have maintained the best temperature in vans and centres and doses were not wasted due to temperature.”

A chief executive officer (CEO) on the condition of anonymity said he had reported the matter of wastage of vaccine vials to his highs-ups.

He said around 500 to 600 doses went waste at their centre due to poor transportation and temperature issues.

Meanwhile, Ms Aslam in a press release stated that the number of wasted doses during vaccination process were being misreported by certain sections of the media.

The secretary maintained that the wastage of coronavirus vaccines had been 0.37 per cent of the total supply, which she termed a ‘normal waste’.

She said the number of vaccine wastage being reported were actually the total figure for the last five months and the data was also shared with the NCOC on a daily basis.

She said so far 8.626 million Covid-19 doses had been administered in the province.

She claimed that all cold storages in Punjab had “excellent arrangements” as per international standards, adding that vaccine temperature was routinely checked under the standard operating procedures.

She appealed to the people not to fall for false reports regarding wastage of vaccines.

“The Covid-19 vaccines are properly stored in our facilities and the same are administered to hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis,” she added.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2021