Desperate to clear vaccine doses before expiry, private hospitals in Bengaluru offer them for free

Desperate to clear the remaining vaccine stock before expiry, private hospitals are organising camps to administer both Covishield and Covaxin for free.

From December 1 to 5, Banashankari’s Re-Life Hospital organised one such camp, where it administered both Covishield and Covaxin to beneficiaries visiting their camp.

Dr H M Prasanna, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), mentioned Covaxin manufacturer Bharat Biotech’s assurance that they will revalidate their stock by re-labelling the vials with the extended expiry date of a year.

But this offer comes with a caveat: Under no circumstance should the hospitals ask for a buyback if the stocks still remain unsold after six more months.

Private hospitals, left with six lakh Covaxin doses, are not happy with this condition and are looking for other ways to sell their stock, Prasanna said.

Sparsh Hospital’s Director of Strategy Guruprasad B R said that the hospital’s Covishield stock would expire in February.

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Covishield has a shelf-life of nine months. "We have 45,000 doses of Covishield and 12,000 Covaxin doses. Bharat Biotech has informed us that someone from the company will come to relabel the vials with the extended expiry date. Since the cold chain has to be maintained, they don't want us to transport the vials to them,” Guruprasad said.

Though the hospital reached out to the Serum Institute of India about the pending stock, they are yet to receive a response. Usually, pharma companies either provide fresh stock or give a credit note. “We tried to conduct free vaccination camps for the poor (in the hope of emptying the stock), but none came forward to get jabbed,” Guruprasad said.

While NGOs are ready to bankroll the Rs 780 required per dose of Covishield, no one is willing to take the jab. "We sold 300 to 400 vials to a smaller unit forgoing service charge, interest and margins,” Guruprasad said.

Meanwhile, the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), a 12,000-member-strong nationwide private hospitals association that met Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on November 16, is sending reminders to the minister on making good his promise to export the pending stock.

AHPI national president Dr Alexander Thomas said the first batch of Covishield is set to expire in February. “Fifty lakh doses of both brands remain with the private sector,” he said.

Sakra World Hospital’s chief of medical services Dr Deepak Balani admitted to DH that vaccine uptake remains poor with a meagre 20-25 doses a day.

“We have done a number of vaccination drives in the neighbouring complexes and corporate houses, but demand fizzled out since free vaccines are available everywhere,” he said, revealing that the hospital has 8,000 to 10,000 doses each of both Covaxin and Covishield.

“The BBMP gave a long list of people needing the second dose. We are calling them to see if they can come,” Dr Balani added.

When DH sent queries to Bharat Biotech on whether it will be taking back vaccines and release them in markets where there is demand, it did not directly respond, but instead issued a public statement saying its 28-day open vial policy should help reduce wastage and its one-year extended expiry date should help in vaccine consumption.

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