Don’t make public vax stock & storage info: Govt | Economic Times

The health ministry has asked states to refrain from publicly sharing data on Covid vaccine stocks and the temperature at which they're stored on the ground that this is “sensitive information.” The data are “owned” by the ministry and can't be made public without its consent, according to a letter written by Pradeep Haldar, advisor on reproductive and child health (RCH) in the health ministry. “This is very sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement,” said the June 4 letter to state mission health directors that ET has seen. Haldar said the government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had rolled out a vaccine intelligence network (e-VIN) system that’s used to track stocks and storage temperatures at all levels — from the national to the sub-district level. 83382369“In this regard please be advised that data and analytics generated by e-VIN for inventory and temperature are owned by the ministry of health and family welfare and not to be shared with any other organisation, partner agency, media agency, online and offline public forums without the consent from ministry of health and family welfare,” Haldar said. Some states have been tweeting or otherwise publicising the amount of vaccines they have. The Centre will inform states how many doses will be delivered to them and when a few weeks in advance, the prime minister had said while announcing a new vaccine policy on Monday.