Covid-19 vaccine drive from tomorrow

New Delhi: Private hospitals can charge up to Rs 250 per dose of Covid-19 vaccine, the Union government said on Saturday as India prepares to vaccinate people aged above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities from Monday. The vaccine will be given free of cost at government hospitals, while people will need to pay for it at private facilities.

States have been given the freedom to use all private hospitals empanelled under the State government health insurance schemes as Covid vaccination centres. States can also use health facilities of all PSUs and all government health facilities as CVCs.

Close to 10,000 hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY scheme and 687 under CGHS can be used by States as Covid vaccination centres.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan interacted with health secretaries and MDs of States and UTs on the vaccination of age-appropriate groups via video-conference.

States have been told that private hospitals functioning as CVCs can charge subject to a ceiling of Rs 250 per person per dose.

Usernames and passwords will be provided to the private facilities to facilitate the effective use of CoWIN 2.0 mobile app. In addition, mapping of private facilities with the nearest cold chain points should be done to ensure seamless flow of vaccines.

The government Covid-19 vaccination centres will offer free vaccination for all beneficiaries. The simplified system of certifying people with 20 comorbidities within the 45-59 years age group will be used.

Eligible beneficiaries above the age of 54 can upload a certificate signed by a medical practitioner on Co-WIN2.0 while self-registering or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the centre. The Health ministry on Friday had said beneficiaries would be able to self-register in advance by downloading the Co-WIN 2.0 portal and through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu, which will show the government and private hospitals serving as Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs) with date and time of the available schedules. The beneficiary would be able to choose the CVC of his/her choice and book an appointment for vaccination, the ministry said.

There will be facility of on-site registration so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and inoculated. "Eligible beneficiaries would be able to register themselves on the Co-WIN platform from March 1 itself," R S Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Administration had said.