Covid Vaccination Phase 2: The world’s largest corona vaccination program has started in India on January 16. To start its second phase, the central government held a meeting with the state governments on Friday 26 February. According to the news of the Indian Express, the central government may allow private hospitals to charge individual persons up to a maximum of Rs 100 for a single dose of corona vaccine. This charge can be taken to fulfill a portion of the infrastructure costs.
In the first phase of vaccination, health workers and frontline workers have been given vaccine doses. Now in the second phase, senior citizens and those above 45 years of age will be given vaccine doses for people suffering from co-morbidities. The second phase will start from 1 March. The central government has asked the states to start the registration process for the second phase.
Fees may have to be paid to reduce the burden on private hospitals
According to the report of Indian Express, the central government can ask all private hospitals to make their own infrastructure and logistics arrangements, including power backup and vaccine refrigeration, for vaccination. The government will only provide vaccines to private hospitals. The government is considering fixing a maximum fee of 100 rupees per dose for the private hospitals, as there is no burden on them. Maharashtra Health Secretary Dr. Pradeep Vyas present in the meeting confirmed in a conversation with Indian Express about the fee of Rs 100. However, he said that a final decision on this has not been done yet. Apart from this, a decision is yet to be made on whether the private hospital will buy the vaccine from the government or not. Apart from this, it is also not clear at what rate if the private hospital will buy the vaccine from the government.
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Registration can be done in three ways
Health Secretary of all the States / Union Territories were present in the meeting organized by Dr. RS Sharma, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Chairman of Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration. In the meeting, the Central Government informed the States / Union Territories that the registration can be done in three ways – Advanced registration with the help of Co-Win 2.0 or Arogya Setu App, On-site registration at the Vaccination Center, and Facilitated Cohort Registration. Under the Facilitated Registration, the government will depend on ASHA workers, panchayat members and women self-help groups who will provide authorities with information on the eligibility for the second phase of vaccination.
