Pune: Fearing Wastage of Millions of COVID Vaccine Doses Due To Expiry Date, Private Hospitals Demand Govt To Take Back Stock
Pune, 9th April 2022: Many private hospitals in the Pune city have millions of doses of covishield vaccine. Most of them have expired and many are on the verge of expiration. Private hospitals have invested heavily in the purchase of vaccines.
Private hospitals on Friday demanded that the Maharashtra state government should take back the expired vaccines on the lines of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and reimburse at least 50% cost or provide new vaccines.
The pace of vaccination is currently slow. The number of citizens visiting private vaccination centres is also very low. The Central Government has directed the State Government and the Serum Institute of India (SII), the Pune-based company engaged in producing the vaccine doses, to withdraw the expired vaccine.
This policy has been implemented in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. However, the Maharashtra government has asked private hospitals to return the vaccine free of cost. This decision is causing financial loss to private hospitals, doctors said.
Dr Rajiv Joshi said that the Central and State Governments should adopt a consistent policy and take back the vaccine before it is wasted. Serum Institute of India should either refund the amount or replace the expired vaccines. The current situation is due to the wrong advice given by the Serum Institute of India while protecting its own business interests and improperly distributed vaccines. The vaccine was received three months after placing the order. The one-year validity vaccine doses were given when already three months had passed.
