KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 6.25 tonnes of empty vaccine vials have been disposed of as clinical waste since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) was launched on February 24.
The Health Ministry’s engineering services division said in a statement that the vials were of Covid-19 vaccine doses given to 7,593,179 recipients as of June 28.
“All empty vaccine vials generated from each vaccination centre will be gathered daily and sent to the relevant hospitals to be weighed before being taken out in accordance with the stipulated frequency of clinical waste disposals,” it said.
Apart from the vials, sharp waste such as needles and syringes are also classified as clinical waste.
It said the disposal of clinical waste will be carried out by qualified clinical waste disposal companies appointed by the government at Environment Department-licenced clinical waste treatment plants.
“The process will be monitored by the Health Ministry and the Environment Department. There are 12 plants for this purpose nationwide,” it said.
On preparations to manage a larger number of empty vaccine vials following the increase in vaccination rate, which is expected to reach 300,000 doses daily this month, the statement said the onus is on the appointed companies to provide adequate and qualified manpower to handle the process.
“The Health Ministry believes that the companies will make necessary preparations to increase their manpower in line with the increase in volume of clinical waste generated,” it added. – Bernama, July 6, 2021
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