Amid dwindling demand and an impending decision on Covid booster shots, private hospitals have started to liquidate their vaccine stock nearing expiry by giving free jabs to citizens. Private hospitals are sitting on 10 million unused doses, of which 15-20 per cent will expire next month, said Girdhar Gyani, director-general of the Association of Healthcare Providers (India).
With around 2 million Covid vaccine doses likely to get wasted in December, leading hospital chains have now started to give it gratis to citizens. Some hospitals, however, say they will review the situation in the middle of January.
Apart from private hospitals, states and Union Territories have 219 million unused doses available with them as on November 23, which were distributed by the Centre. This is roughly one-month’s inventory, going by the current rate of vaccination.
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