Srinagar, Mar 18: Terming the wastage of 6.5 per cent of COVID-19 vaccine doses as a shame, former chief minister and National Conference (NC) Vice-President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that if vaccines are allowed for all age groups, this wastage can be brought down drastically.
Mr Abdullah said that many people are waiting patiently for their turn to get a COVID vaccine.
Mr Abdullah was responding to the data revealed by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. According to the data, India witnessed vaccine wastage of 6.5 per cent. COVID-19 vaccine wastage in five states – Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir – is higher than 6.5 per cent, which is the national average.
”What a shame that while so many of us are waiting patiently for our turn to get a COVID vaccine the government admits that 6.5 per cent of the vaccine doses are being wasted. If vaccines are allowed for all age groups, this wastage can be brought down drastically,” Mr Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.
Meanwhile, 126 new positive cases of novel Coronavirus, 20 from Jammu division and 106 from Kashmir division, were reported on Wednesday, thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 1,27,957. One death was reported from Kashmir Division on Wednesday, taking the total death toll due to COVID-19 in the UT to 1977.
(UNI)
