Jharkhand tops in vaccine wastage; Kerala, Bengal report 100% use

New Delhi: Kerala and West Bengal recorded negative wastage of COVID-19 vaccines in May, saving 1.10 lakh and 1.61 lakh doses respectively, while Jharkhand reported maximum wastage of 33.95 per cent, according to government data. While Kerala reported -6.37 per cent vaccine wastage, Bengal recorded -5.48 per cent.

Chhattisgarh reported 15.79 per cent vaccine wastage while MP reported 7.35 per cent. States like Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, UP, Gujarat and Maharashtra reported 7.08 per cent, 3.95 per cent, 3.91 per cent, 3.78 and 3.63 per cent and 3.59 per cent respectively.

The data showed that a total of 790.6 lakh vaccines were supplied to states and UTs in May out of which total vaccinations were 610.6 lakh while 658.6 lakh shots were utilised and the closing balance was 212.7 lakh. The vaccination in May was less as compared to April in which a total of 898.7 lakh vaccinations were done, 902.2 lakh vaccines were utilised and the closing balance was 80.8 lakh.

India's first dose coverage of the 45-plus population till June 7 was pegged at 38 per cent with Tripura's coverage being 92 per cent, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh 65 per cent each, Gujarat 53 per cent, Kerala 51 per cent and Delhi 49 per cent.

The Indian Council of Medical Research granted approval to global medtech company Meril Diagnostics for its self-use rapid antigen test for Covid-19 that can provide accurate results in just 15 minutes. CoviFind is highly effective in individuals with mid to high viral load, especially in detecting infection in the case of individuals more likely to transmit the disease to others.

"This indigenously researched and developed test can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus reliably in infectious individuals and can, therefore, be used for testing symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases as specified by recent ICMR guidelines," the company said.