From onsite registration to e-vouchers: Centre's revised COVID vaccination guidelines

Use of non-transferable electronic vouchers approved by the Reserve Bank of India will be encouraged to enable people to financially support COVID-19 inoculation of economically weaker sections at private centres.

These elements were included in the fresh guidelines for implementation of National Covid vaccination programme. The revised guidelines will come into effect from June 21 this year and will be reviewed from time to time.

According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday, vaccine doses provided free of cost by the Centre will be allocated to states/UTs based on criteria such as population, disease burden and progress of vaccination.

"Wastage of vaccine will affect the allocation negatively," the revised guidelines issued by the Union health ministry said.

Among the main pointers of the guidelines, it is mentioned that the 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 states and the UTs as has been the case from the commencement of the national vaccination programme. These doses will be administered by the states and the UTs free of cost to all citizens as per priority through government vaccination centres.

Within the population group of citizens more than 18 years of age, the guidelines mentioned, states and the UTs may decide their own prioritization factoring in the vaccine supply schedule.

However, it is stressed that vaccination will be prioritized to Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers, citizens more than 45 years of age, citizens whose second dose has become due and citizens 18 years and above.

The new guidelines came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared free vaccines to all aged above 18 years of age from June 21 with Centre providing free vaccine doses to all states and UTs.

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 per cent of their monthly production. States and UTs would aggregate the demand of private hospitals keeping in view equitable distribution between large and small private hospitals and regional balance."

"To promote the spirit of 'Lok Kalyan', use of non-transferable electronic vouchers which can be redeemed at private vaccination centers, will be encouraged. This will enable people to financially support vaccination of economically weaker sections at private vaccination centres," the revised guidelines said.

The states/UTs will aggregate the demand of private hospitals keeping in view equitable distribution of vaccines between large and small private hospitals and regional balance.

Based on this aggregated demand, the Central government will facilitate supply of these vaccines to the private hospitals and their payment through the National Health Authority`s 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 price of vaccine doses for private hospitals would be declared by each vaccine manufacturer, and any subsequent changes would be notified in advance, said the guidelines.

"The private hospitals may charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charges and state governments may monitor the price being so charged."

All citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free vaccination. Those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospital`s vaccination centres.

The CoWIN platform provides every citizen the facility of conveniently and safely pre-booking vaccination appointments. 

All government and private vaccination centres would also provide an onsite registration facility, available both for individuals as well as groups of individuals, for which detailed procedure is to be finalized and published by states and UTs, in order to minimize any inconvenience to citizens.

The states may also optimally utilize the Common Service Centres and Call Centres to facilitate prior booking by the citizens.

As per the Central government, the revised programme provides states and UTs 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 changes were done gaining experiences from the guideline issued on May 1 this year.