Vaccine Wastage
As the second wave of COVID-19 hits India, PM Modi raised concerns about vaccine wastage, i.e., the fraction of vaccines that go unused. The national average wastage rate is 6.5%, with Telengana and Andhra the worst offenders at 17.6% and 11.6%, and states like Tamil Nadu doing well at 3.7%. So how does this wastage happen? Broadly, as this Indian Express article explains, it is split into two categories, as wastage in (1) Unopened vials, and (2) Opened vials. In case of unopened vials, the reasons are (a) expiration date reached, (b) vaccine exposed to heat, (c) vaccine frozen, (d) breakage, (e) theft, and (f) discarding of unused vials. And in case of opened vials, the reasons are (a) discarding unused vials at the end of a session, (b) inability to draw enough doses from a vial, (c) submergence in water, (d) contamination, and (e) poor vaccine administration practices. Or if you look at it from a different angle, wastage can happen during transportat...