Centre ignored stock availability, WHO guidelines for vaccination, says Serum Institute official

The executive director of Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Friday squarely blamed the Centre for the country’s vaccine shortage, reported PTI. Suresh Jadhav alleged that the government did not take into account the available stock of vaccines and ignored World Health Organization guidelines while rolling out inoculation phases.

His comments came as India is facing a massive shortage of coronavirus vaccine.

“Initially, 300 million people were to be administered the vaccine for which 600 million doses were required,” Jadhav said at an e-summit organised by Heal Health, a health advocacy and awareness platform. “But before we reached the target, the government opened vaccination for all above 45 years followed by those aged 18 and above despite knowing well that so much vaccine is not available.”

Jadhav said India should have followed the WHO guidelines and prioritised vaccination accordingly. “That is the greatest lesson we learnt,” he added, according to PTI. “We must take into account the availability of the product and then use it judiciously.”

When the Centre opened up vaccinations for all adults, it said it would provide states a limited stock of vaccines and that they would have to acquire the remaining doses that were necessary. Besides abruptly opening up vaccinations, the Centre also faced…

Read more