Centre to procure 75 per cent Covid-19 vaccines under revised guidelines to be implemented from June 21

In view of the difficulties faced by states in managing the funding procurement and logistics of Covid19 vaccines the Centre on Tuesday released the revised guidelines for the national Covid19 vaccination programme under which the Government of India will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the countryAccording to the notification issued by the Centre the revised guidelines will be implemented from June 21 and will be reviewed from time to timeThe government of India will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country The vaccines procured will continue to be provided free of cost to StatesUTs as has been the case from the commencement of the National Vaccination Programme These doses will be administered by the StatesUTs free of cost to all citizens as per priority through Government Vaccination Centres the notification saidAlso Read Centre to buy vaccines and give them to states for free from June 21 ModiPrime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday announced a centralised procurement system for Covid19 vaccines beginning from June 21 with 25 per cent of the procurement being made available for the private sector as well as free vaccinations for everyone above the age of 18He had also announced a cap of Rs 150 on the amount private hospitals can charge over the cost of the purchase of the vaccine from the manufacturerIn respect of the vaccine doses provided free of cost by the Government of India to the States the Centre said that the vaccination will be prioritised as the followingHealth Care Workers Front Line Workers Citizens more than 45 years of age Citizens whose second dose has become due and Citizens 18 years and aboveAs per the guidelines within the population group of citizens over 18 years of age the Centre said StatesUTs may decide their own prioritisation factoring in the vaccine supply scheduleVaccine doses provided free of cost by Government of India will be allocated to StatesUTs based on criteria such as population disease burden and the progress of vaccination Wastage of vaccine will affect the allocation negatively the notification saidFurther the Centre said that under the revised guidelines it will provide StatesUTs advance information of vaccine doses to be supplied to them StatesUTs should similarly further allocate doses well in advance to districts and vaccination centers They should also put in the public domain the information about the above availability at district and vaccination center level and widely disseminate it among the local population maximizing the visibility and convenience of citizens it statedIn order to incentivise production by vaccine manufacturers and encourage new vaccines domestic vaccine manufacturers are given the option to also provide vaccines directly to private hospitalsThis would be restricted to 25 per cent of their monthly production StatesUTs would aggregate the demand of private hospitals keeping in view equitable distribution between large and small private hospitals and regional balance Based on this aggregated demand Government of India will facilitate supply of these vaccines to the private hospitals and their payment through the National Health Authoritys electronic platform This would enable the smaller and remoter private hospitals to obtain timely supply of vaccines and further equitable access and regional balance the government notedAccording to new guidelines the price of vaccine doses for private hospitals would be declared by each vaccine manufacturer and any subsequent changes would be notified in advance The private hospitals may charge up to a maximum of Rupees 150 per dose as service charges State Governments may monitor the price being so charged it statedThe government noted that all citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free vaccination and those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospitals vaccination centresUnder the revised guidelines to promote the spirit of Lok Kalyan the use of nontransferable Electronic Vouchers which can be redeemed at private vaccination centres will be encouraged which would enable people to financially support vaccination of Economically Weaker Sections at private vaccination centresThe CoWIN platform provides every citizen the facility of conveniently and safely prebooking vaccination appointments All government and private vaccination centers would also provide onsite registration facility available both for individuals as well as groups of individuals for which detailed procedure is to be finalized and published by StatesUTs in order to minimize any inconvenience to citizens the Centre said adding that the states may also optimally utilize the Common Service Centres and Call Centres to facilitate prior booking by citizensThe revised program provides StatesUTs with additional central government support across funding procurement and logistics It also facilitates scientific prioritization wider access harnessing of private sector capacity and flexibility at the state and local level the Centre addedThe plan for centralised free Covid19 vaccination was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 on the completion of one month of the decentralised modelThe implementation of the Liberalised and accelerated phase3 strategy of Covid19 vaccination has started from May 1 2021This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever