India all set for phase 2 of Covid-19 inoculation drive, jab to cost ₹250 at private hospitals

New Delhi: The second phase of vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) drive kick starts Monday with citizens above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with co-morbidities eligible for the shot. The government has also roped in private hospitals for this phase of inoculation which is likely to cover 270 million people. While the vaccine will be administered free of cost at government hospitals, the Centre has capped the price of the shot at ₹250 at private hospitals.

The government has identified 20 co-morbidities for people in the 45-59 years age bracket. Those with co-morbidities need to produce a one page certificate signed by any registered medical practitioner. The certificate can either be uploaded on Co-WIN2.0 by the beneficiary while self registering or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the CVC, the health ministry stated.

The conditions include congenital heart disease that leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension, end-stage kidney disease, or cancers such as lymphoma, leukaemia and myloma, decompensated liver cirrhosis (deterioration of liver function due to scarring), primary immune deficiency conditions, and sickle cell anaemia.

For those who wish to receive the vaccine in this stage, states were informed about three methods of registration—advance self registration, onsite registration and facilitated cohort registration.

The states have been asked to provide login credentials to private centres on the updated Co-WIN platform, which according to the government, forms the backbone of the immunisation campaign in India. It is a digital platform where anyone who needs to get a dose must be registered.

The government has allowed states to use around 10,000 hospitals under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY and 687 hospitals under CGHS as Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs). There would also be government health facilities which will be used as CVCs such as medical college hospitals, district hospitals, sub divisional hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, health sub centers and health and wellness centers and geo reference maps with GPS coordinates of all these health facilities have been prepared that will serve as CVCs, the Union ministry of health and family welfare said in a statement.

Currently, two vaccines—Covishield, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by SII, and Covaxin, developed and manufactured by Bharat Biotech— are being administered in India.

In the first phase of the vaccination drive, which began on January 16, only health and frontline workers were included. As many as 14,242,547 doses of the vaccine were given by Saturday evening. (Agency)