New Delhi: Covid-19 vaccines in the private sector will be priced at Rs 250 per person, per dose. Accordingly, the two-dose immunisation schedule will cost a person Rs 500 in private hospitals and clinics while the vaccination will be free of cost in all government (both Central and state) healthcare centres, with the Central government bearing the full cost of the vaccination.
From March 1, all citizens above 60 years of age, and those within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specific comorbidities will be able to get the vaccine. To ramp up the Covid vaccination capacity, a large number of private facilities are being involved. Around 10,000 private hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, more than 600 hospitals empanelled under CGHS and other private hospitals empanelled under state government’s health insurance schemes can participate as Covid Vaccination Centers (CVCs).
Government health facilities which will be used as CVCs include medical college hospitals, district hospitals, sub divisional hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, health sub centres and health and wellness centres.
Meanwhile, alarmed with the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Union Cabinet secretary on Saturday held a meeting with the chief secretaries of Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal. These states/UT were asked not to lower their guard, enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour and deal firmly with the violations. States have also been asked to follow effective surveillance and tracking strategies in respect of potential super-spreading events.
“Emphasis was laid on the need for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases and quick quarantine of close contacts,” a Union health ministry official said.
These eight states/UTs have been reporting a high active caseload due to an increasing trend in new cases in the last week. Six states – Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat -- have shown a surge in new cases. In the last 24 hours, 16,488 new cases were registered and 85.75 per cent of the new cases are from these six states.
