The Union Health Ministry is planning to utilize the date-unexpired vaccine bulks lying in the cold storages of the three closed vaccines units for the national immunization programme. For this purpose, the ministry has started issuing notice to the units asking them to assess the usability and stock of the vaccines stored in each unit, sources in the health ministry told Pharmabiz.

According to sources, since the vaccines cannot be exported due to WHO GMP issue, it can be used for domestic purposes. It is learnt that the ministry has already ordered the units to release the vaccines that have not passed expiry dates. The three public sector vaccine units were closed down by the union health ministry in January 2008 for failing to comply the WHO GMP norms.

In the Central Research Institute (CRI) in Kasauli, where the major production was the DPT group, 43 million doses of TT vaccines are in the cold storage now. Whereas, the quantity of DPT stored there is only eight million doses and the amount of DT in the stock is 5 lakh doses. Besides, five lakh doses of JE (Japanese Encephalitis) and other vaccines in bulks are also stored there, said Dr K V Mani, director of the institute.

The director said that all the vaccines in bulks in the institute can be used for immunization as the expiry dates of these vaccines are still far away.

When contacted, director of BCG Vaccine Lab in Chennai, Usha Sworen Sing said that so far she did not receive any letter from DCGI office instructing her to release the vaccines stored there. But when asked whether the date of the stock has expired or not, she said the institute would conduct a revalidation test shortly and anything could be commented only after that.

A senior officer in the Pasteur Institute of India (PII) at Coonoor said he is waiting for the instructions of the Health Ministry. He said there is only negligible quantity of vaccines in their storage. At the time of cancellation of licence in 2008, the stock of anti-rabies vaccine stored there, had been released for use, he said.

According to sources, 280 lakh doses of BCG vaccines were lying in the cold storages of the BCG Vaccine Lab in Chennai after the cancellation of production licence and the expiry date of the vaccine was July 2009. Sources in the ministry said the date-expired vaccines would be destroyed.

These three public sector vaccine units were supplying 80 per cent of vaccines required for the national immunization programme in the country before they were shut down.