Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network is used to monitor utilization and wastage of the vaccines in India
The Union Health Ministry announced today that India is using Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system to track the vaccines and the system facilitates real-time information. This is really a significant step as it speeds up the process and makes it more organized pan India.
The platform also monitors the condition of storage temperature of 29,000 cold chains points at the national, state and district level where the vaccinations are stored. eVIN is said to be part of Co-Win that serves as Covid 0- 19 vaccine intelligence network. Officials from the Ministry mentioned that any reduction in wastage means inoculating more people and this will lead to strengthening the fight of the country against Covid.
Through this platform, they are able to add beneficiaries and track the record of people who have or are yet to receive a vaccination.
This comes at such an important time since India is fighting tooth and nail to bring the country out of the second wave. Getting a vaccination is important as it protects people from infection and related mortality and morbidity. Since the development and testing of these vaccines take a lot of time thus it becomes very important that a tool is created to track and address the optimal use of these lifesaving injections during the pandemic.
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It was further informed that the current Covid-19 vaccines being used do not have an ‘open vial policy’ i.e., it has to be used within a stipulated time once the vial has been opened.
The Centre has advised vaccinators to mark the date and time of opening of each vial and be used or discarded within 4 hours of opening. It further urged all States to cater to at least 100 beneficiaries in one vaccination session, with an exception to remote and sparsely populated areas, where a session for a lesser number of beneficiaries could be organized.
Meanwhile, the Centre also said that keeping vaccine wastage below 1 percent is reasonable, desirable, and achievable as several states have organized Covid-19 vaccination so that there is no wastage, but they can extract more doses from the vial and thus show a negative wastage.
