The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 8th June 2021 has issued a set of revised guidelines for implementation of national COVID vaccination program.The vaccination program incorporates recommendations of the foremost experts in the field of immunization, public health, disease control and information technology. Based on scientific and epidemiological evidence, the programme gives priority to strengthening the country’s healthcare system by protecting the professionals, health and frontline workers, manning it, as well as protecting the most vulnerable population groups.
The main elements of the Revised Guidelines are as follows:
Government of India will procure 75% of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country. The vaccines procured will continue to be provided free of cost to States/UTs as has been the case from the commencement of the National Vaccination Programme.
The vaccination will be prioritized as the following:
- Health Care Workers
- Front Line Workers
- Citizens more than 45 years of age
- Citizens whose second dose has become due
- Citizens 18 years & above
In order to incentivize production by vaccine manufacturers and encourage new vaccines, domestic vaccine manufacturers are given the option to also provide vaccines directly to private hospitals. This would be restricted to 25% of their monthly production.
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.
The revised guidelines will come into effect from 21st June 2021 and will be reviewed from time to time.
