Revised Guidelines for implementation of National COVID Vaccination Program
Government of
India’s commitment to the vaccination program has been unwavering and proactive from the beginning, from strengthening Research
and Development capacity, to encouraging and enabling manufacturing and
vaccinating each and every adult Indian safely, as fast as possible.
For the COVID
vaccination program, Government of India initiated early and proactive steps as
far back as April 2020:
·
“Task Force for Focused Research
on Corona Vaccine”
(constituted in April 2020), to encourage domestic R&D
of Drugs, Diagnostics and Vaccines, headed by Principal Scientific Advisor to
the Government of India.
·
“National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19”
(NEGVAC), (constituted in August 2020), to formulate a comprehensive action
plan for vaccine administration, co-chaired by Member (Health) NITI Aayog and
Union Health Secretary.
·
“Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19” (constituted
in January 2021), to facilitate optimal utilization of technology to make COVID
vaccination all inclusive, transparent, simple and scalable, headed by CEO,
National Health Authority.
India’s COVID
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.
COVID vaccination in the country
commenced with vaccination to all Health
Care Workers. The program was expanded with time to include vaccination
of Front Line Workers, citizens
more than 60 years of age, citizens
more than 45 years of age and eventually citizens more than
18 years of age.
Under the
National COVID Vaccination Program, from 16th January to 30th
April 2021, 100% of vaccine doses were procured by Government of India and
provided free of cost to State Governments. State Governments were in turn to administer vaccination free of cost to
defined priority groups. To increase the pace of vaccination, participation of
private hospitals was also enlisted where individuals could also chose to get
vaccinated at a prescribed rate.
In response to
the suggestions of many State Governments to be permitted the flexibility to
procure vaccine directly and administer them as per their own prioritization
based on local requirements, Government of India revised the Guidelines. Under
the revised Guidelines effective from 1st May, 2021, Government of
India was procuring 50% of the vaccine produced and was continuing to provide
them to States free of cost for administering to priority groups. The State Government and private hospitals
were now also empowered
to directly procure from the remaining 50% vaccine pool.
Many States
have however now communicated that they are facing difficulties in managing the
funding, procurement and logistics of vaccines, impacting the pace of the
National COVID Vaccination Program. It has also been noted that smaller and
remoter private hospitals are also facing constraints.
Keeping in view the aforesaid aspects,
the experiences gained
from 1st May 2021
and the repeated requests received from States, the Guidelines for National
COVID Vaccination Program have been reviewed and revised.
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. These doses will be
administered by the States/UTs free of cost to all citizens as per priority through Government Vaccination Centres.
·
In respect of the vaccine doses provided free of cost by Government of
India to the States, vaccination will be prioritized as the following:
o
Health Care Workers
o
Front Line Workers
o
Citizens more than 45 years of age
o
Citizens whose second dose has become
due
o
Citizens 18 years & above
·
Within the population group of citizens more than 18 years of age,
States/UTs may decide their own prioritization factoring in the vaccine supply schedule.
·
Vaccine doses provided free of cost by Government of India will be
allocated to States/UTs based on criteria such as population, disease burden
and the progress of vaccination. Wastage of vaccine will affect the allocation negatively.
·
Government of India will provide States/UTs advance information of
vaccine doses to be supplied
to them. States/UTs 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.
·
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. States/UTs 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 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.
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.
·
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.
·
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 would enable people to financially support vaccination of
Economically Weaker Sections at private vaccination centres.
·
The CoWIN platform
provides every citizen
the facility of conveniently and safely pre-booking 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 States/UTs, in order
to minimize any inconvenience to citizens.
·
States may also optimally utilize the Common Service Centres and Call
Centres to facilitate prior booking by citizens.
The revised
guidelines will come into effect from 21st June 2021 and will be
reviewed from time to time.
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