Union health secy writes to states on phase 3 inoculation drive

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI): From May 1, the types of anti-coronavirus vaccine and their prices will be displayed on the CoWIN portal for citizens to make an informed choice at the time of booking an appointment at a private vaccination centre.
While those aged 18 to 44 years will be eligible to receive vaccination on payment from any of the private COVID vaccination centres (CVCs), citizens below 45 years shall also be eligible to receive a jab from a government CVC in a state or Union Territory which decides to lower the minimum cut off age for eligibility. The registration of citizens in the 18-44 age group will start on the CoWIN portal from April 28.
Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India will be given at Rs 400 per dose to states and Rs 600 per dose to private hospitals, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will cost Rs 600 per dose for the states and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals. In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said each private CVC must declare on CoWIN, the vaccine type(s), the stocks of vaccines and the prices decided by it to be charged from the citizens, for vaccination services being offered from May 1.
Appropriate changes are being done in the facility registration module of COWIN to include these details, he said.
“The vaccine types and their prices will be displayed in the appointments module on COWIN so that the citizens can make an informed choice at the time of booking a vaccination appointment,” the health secretary stated.
All vaccination slots at private CVCs will continue to be offered only for online appointments from CoWIN or Arogya Setu. On-site registration/appointments will be allowed only if any doses are left in the last opened vial(s) to minimise vaccine wastage, the letter stated.
As provided in the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy document, all priority groups such as the healthcare workers, the frontline workers and citizens above 45 years shall continue to be eligible for vaccination free of cost from the government CVCs or on payment from the private CVCs.
The state and UT governments, in the event of procurement of vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers, may decide to expand the coverage from the doses so procured to reduce the cut off age for eligibility for vaccination at the government CVCs.
The CoWIN system shall provide the feature to states and UTs for setting the minimum age cut off value for a state and Union Territory. In such cases, the government CVCs will be visible to eligible beneficiaries for booking an online appointment based on validation on the minimum cut off age defined by the respective state/UT government, the letter stated.
Citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years shall be eligible to receive vaccination, on payment, from any of the private CVCs.
“Citizens below the age of 45 years shall also be eligible to receive vaccination from a government CVC in a state/UT where that state and UT decides to lower the minimum cut off age for eligibility of beneficiaries to less than 45 years, for covering such additional eligible beneficiaries from the vaccine stocks directly procured by the respective state/UT government from vaccine manufacturers,” the letter highlighted.
Bhushan, in his letter, said the eligibility conditions for any health facility for registration as a CVC also remain unchanged.
For any private health facility to be operated as a CVC, the facility must have sufficient Cold Chain equipment and capacity, sufficient rooms/space for waiting area, vaccination and observation post vaccination, sufficient number of trained vaccinators and verifiers and the ability to manage the adverse events following immunization (AEFI), according to the norms and guidelines of the ministry.
Wherever an industrial establishment has a hospital that is eligible for registration as a CVC as per the eligibility conditions, such units can be registered on CoWIN as an industrial establishment CVC.