Sindh health dept terms reports of Covid vaccines wastage 'misleading'

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department on Saturday rejected media reports claiming wastage of more than 760,935 Covid-19 vaccines “due to non-maintainance of vaccine temperature and cold chain issues”, ARY News reported.

In a statement, the health department spokesperson said the numbers of doses being wasted during the Covid-19 vaccination process were being misreported by certain sections of the media.

He maintained that only 97,000 vaccine doses had been wasted since the vaccination started in the province.

It was learnt on Thursday that as many as 760,935 doses of different Covid-19 vaccines have been wasted in Sindh since the vaccination against the Covid-19 virus.

According to sources, some 220,675 doses of SinoVac, followed by170,675 doses of Sinopharm, 70,876 doses of single-dose Pakvac 23,096 doses of Astrazeneca were wasted alongside 10,675 doses of Moderna, 10,178 doses of Pfizer and 85 doses of Sputnik.

It is pertinent to mention here that the World Health Organisation accepts only two percent of vaccine wastage.

Pakistan Covid vaccination drive

Punjab is leading the country’s Covid-19 vaccine race with more than half of its eligible population administered at least one dose.

“Punjab becomes the first province to have more than half its eligible population with at least one dose at 52%. KP follows with 48%, Sindh 40% and Balochistan at 17%,” National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar tweeted on Thursday.

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“Federal territories leading in vaccination with Islamabad 87%, AJK 59% & GB 54%. National average has reached 48%.”

Last week, Asad Umar had said that 40 million citizens have been fully inoculated against the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Taking to Twitter, the planning and development minister Asad Umar said, “We continue to make progress to vaccinate Pakistan.”