Kerala Model: How The State Got More Out Of Its Vaccine Vials
KOCHI, 6 MAY 2021:
On May 1, central government data on Covid vaccine revealed that Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were the only two states that had actually consumed more vaccine doses than they had received.
Kerala was able to achieve zero wastage due to strict implementation of protocols for storage, transportation and usage, it's army of dedicated and scrupulous health workers and, not least, an extremely cooperative public who wasted no time to get their shots.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, whose tweet on Tuesday pointed out Kerala's success in literally squeezing out the last drop from every vial, attributed it mainly to "our health workers, especially nurses have been super efficient and deserve our wholehearted appreciation!" He added: "Kerala has received 73,38,806 doses of vaccine from GoI. We've provided 74,26,164 doses, even making use of the extra dose available as a wastage factor in each vial."
Dr Mohammed Asheel, executive director, Kerala Social Security Mission echoed this. "Our nurses are good at their job. They were told to ensure zero wastage of the vaccine and they have achieved it," he said.
Wastage normally occurs at three levels: during transportation, at the cold chain point; and at a vaccination site — both at service and delivery levels. Kerala implemented strict protocols for storage, transportation and usage of the vaccine and everyone involved in the massive immunisation exercise, both in private and government hospitals, were trained as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines before the vaccination drive started in the country. Proper vaccine inventory management was also ensured.
Each 5 ml vial of the vaccine has 10 doses (for 10 persons) in total. A skilled nurse can get up to 11 to 13 doses from each vial. Generally, there is 1.1 % wastage of the vaccine. In other words, in a vial of 10 dosages, one dosage may be wasted, with only 8 to 9 persons getting vaccinated from one vial instead of 10. "We are trained to ensure that we take the correct dose of 0.5 ml in the syringe without any air, ensuring zero wastage and saving some too. Most of us have been involved in the vaccination drive from the time the Covid vaccine was introduced in India. Experience and also the quality of the syringe -- auto- disable (AD) syringes -- helps," said Lisha L, infection control nurse, Government Medical College, Kollam.
Along with this, Kerala also guaranteed that those eligible for the vaccination showed up on time for the jab. This is important as once the vial is opened, the doses have to be consumed within four hours, otherwise it goes waste, and remaining doses have to be destroyed. To overcome this, Kerala decided that they would use a vial only after ensuring that there are 10 people Kerala high court: Prevent crowds, dispel fears of vaccine shortage available for the jab.
Initially when there were glitches in the CoWIN app, the staff in each vaccination centre would prepare a list of those who have registered for the vaccination and contact them personally on the day of the vaccination as many didn't receive SMS about the vaccination registration. Also spot registration was also encouraged. Also, the health department worked to create awareness about the benefits of Covid vaccination. The Times Of India