K’taka govt bans private hospitals from open vial policy

Bengaluru: The State Government directed the private hospitals in Karnataka that they cannot follow the open vial policy.

As per the order issued by the state goverment the private hospitals will have to use a vial four hours after they open it.

Bharat Biotech’s had recently announced that open vials of its vaccine against COVID-19 can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius for up to 28 days and need not be discarded at the end of the day.

The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association had said they would go by the manufacturers instructions as they had purchased the vaccines from them.

However, with government’s new order, all private hospitals have to use the vials in four hours, failing which they had to be discarded.

While the company had stated that the extension of Covaxin’s shelf life up to 12 months from the date of manufacturing was recently approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the state government has said that they should follow the expiry date on the label.