In a stunning disregard for the single-use syringe policy, thirty students in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, received vaccinations on Wednesday using a single syringe. While the district vaccination officer has been suspended, the vaccine provider has been taken into custody.
Jitendra, the vaccine provider, stated that only one syringe had been sent by the authorities and that he had been instructed to vaccinate all of the kids with it by the “head of department.” Jitendra said he didn’t know her name in a video shot by the students’ parents.
The incident occurred during a Covid vaccination camp for school children at Jain Public Higher Secondary School in Sagar city. Noticing that the children were being vaccinated with a single syringe, the parents raised alarm.
Since the 1990s, when HIV first began to spread, disposable syringes have been available.
“The person who delivered the materials only gave a single syringe,” Jitendra is heard saying in a video recorded on the spot by the anxious parents.
Asked if he was aware that one syringe should not be used to inject multiple people, Jitendra said, “I know that. Which is why I asked them if I have to use just one syringe and they said ‘yes’. How is this my fault? I did what I was asked to do.”
Sagar district administration has lodged a First Information Report against Jitendra for negligence and blatantly violating the Central government’s “one needle, one syringe, one time” pledge.
