The West Bengal health department ordered door-to-door vaccination before the expiry of the stocked vaccine

In an order, Justices L N Rao and B R Gavai said, "Bodily integrity is protected under the law and nobody can be forced to be vaccinated." The apex court had also directed the central government to publish a report on the adverse impact of vaccination.

  By a Staff Reporter, Kolkata 

 There are still 5 to 6 lakh Covid vaccines in stock in the state. Kolkata alone has 16,000 vaccine doses. One of these vaccines is going to expire on October 31, and a large number of vaccines are going to expire by mid-November. Therefore, the Kolkata District Family Welfare Officer has ordered door-to-door vaccination so that the COVID vaccine is not wasted in any way.

 According to the manufacturer, the expiry date of most of the vaccines is about two to three years. The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers were extremely cautious in predicting how long the vaccine would last; they have an expiry date of about three to six months. Prior to this, several manufacturers had requested an extension of the expiry date of their vaccine. 

 On October 25, 2021, in response to a letter from Bharat Biotech International Limited, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approved the extension of the shelf life of Covaxin (Whole Virion, inactivated coronavirus vaccine) from nine months to 12 months. Similarly, on February 22, 2021, the validity of Covishield was extended from six months to nine months.

It is to be noted that if the vaccine is not at the right temperature, it may also expire. Several COVID-19 vaccines have specific storage requirements, including refrigerators and freezers. However, manufacturers do not have enough information at the moment about the harm that will be caused by taking an expired vaccine. According to sources in the health department, the department has recently instructed all the districts to be vigilant to save the corona vaccine from spoilage. 

According to the guidelines, people have to be interested in getting vaccinated. The district health personnel have to campaign on the mic. If necessary, the health workers have to go from house to house and convince people about the vaccine. 

 On the other hand, the Supreme Court's order in May—'No one can be forced to take the vaccine.' The apex court has also directed the central government to publish a report on the adverse impact of vaccination. In an order, Honorable Justices L N Rao and B R Gavai said, "Bodily integrity is protected under the law and nobody can be forced to be vaccinated."

The Supreme Court also directed the Centre to publish reports on adverse events related to vaccines from people and doctors on a publicly accessible system without compromising the details of the individuals reporting them. "Regarding segregation of vaccine trial data, subject to the privacy of individuals, all trials already conducted and to be subsequently conducted, all data must be made available to the public without further delay," the court said. 

 In the daily corona bulletin released by the state health department on Friday evening, it was said that in the last 24 hours, the number of samples tested has decreased slightly compared to the previous day. A total of 4,470 samples have been tested. The detection rate in the new sample tests stands at 0.74 percent. That is, the detection rate is lower than the previous day. Coronavirus samples have been detected in the bodies of 88 more people. With this, a total of 21 lakh 17 thousand people have been infected with the deadly virus in the state. With no new fatalities, the death toll stands at 21,527.’