Vaccines’ rates to be displayed on portal
As India gets ready to inoculate its billions of adult population from May 1, the Government on Sunday made it clear that no walk-ins will be allowed as registration will be mandatory on CoWIN portal. The details of the rate of the vaccines will be displayed on the portal.
The vaccines will also not be sold at pharmacists or chemist shops in the open market. Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be given at `400 per dose to States and `600 per dose to private hospitals, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be available at `600 per dose at the vaccination sites set up by the States while in private hospitals, the dose will cost `1,200.
The beneficiaries can make an informed choice at the time of booking an appointment at a private vaccination centre.
The Government is expecting an increase in demand for the vaccine once it opens up for all those aged 18-44 years. The registration for these categories will begin on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu App from April 28. The inoculation process and documents to be provided to get the jab remain the same.
However, those aged 45 years and above can still avail the facility of on-site registration to get jabs, officials said.
From May 1, the present system of private Covid-19 vaccination centres receiving doses from the Government and charging up to `250 per dose from people will cease to exist and private hospitals will procure directly from vaccine manufacturers.
According to the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy, Covid-19 vaccination will continue to be free at Government vaccination centres that receive doses from the Centre for eligible population groups comprising healthcare workers, frontline workers and people above the 45 years of age.
Vaccine manufacturers would make an advance declaration of the price for 50 per cent supply that would be available to State Governments in the open market before May 1. Based on this price, States, private hospitals, industrial establishments may procure vaccine doses from manufacturers.
Private hospitals would have to procure their supplies of Covid-19 vaccine exclusively from the 50 per cent supply earmarked for “other than the Government of India channel”.
The price charged for vaccination by private hospitals would be monitored, said the official.
While those aged 18 to 44 years will be eligible to receive a 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.
Any unutilised vaccine stock will have to be returned to the Cold Chain Point from where the stocks were issued. The State/UT Governments must make a careful assessment of the potential for full utilisation of such vaccine doses up to April 30, before issuing any further stock to the private CVCs, as per the official.
