Centre to allot jabs based on population, disease burden: Guidelines

Health workers attend to a Covid-19 patient, at a temporary Covid hospital at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, in Gurugram, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

According to the guidelines which will come into effect from June 21, 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. As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the revised guidelines stated that the Government of India will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by manufacturers in the country. "The vaccines procured will continue to be provided free of cost to states and 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. Within the population group of citizens more than 18 years of age, states/UTs may decide their own prioritisation factoring in the vaccine supply schedule," the revised guidelines stated.

In order to incentivise production by vaccine manufacturers and encourage new vaccines, domestic vaccine manufacturers are also given the option to provide vaccines directly to private hospitals. This would be restricted to 25 per cent of their monthly production, it stated.

"To promote the spirit of ‘Lok Kalyan', use of non-transferable electronic vouchers which can be redeemed at private vaccination centres, 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 the equitable distribution of vaccines between large and small private hospitals and regional balance. "Based on this aggregated demand, the Union government will facilitate the supply of these vaccines to private hospitals and their payment through the National Health Authority's electronic platform," the ministry said.

Delhi-NCR people travel to Agra for vaccination

People in the 18-44 age group from the Delhi-NCR region are travelling as far as Agra in Uttar Pradesh to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Moolchand Medcity, Agra, started vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group four days ago. Of the 450 people inoculated so far, 40 per cent of the beneficiaries came from places like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Meerut, Etawah and Mathura.

UP govt extends relaxations to all 75 districts

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended relaxation in Covid restrictions to all 75 districts of the state, with the active cases coming down to the 600-mark in each of these districts. The night curfew from 7 pm to 7 am and weekend curfew (for the entire day) will, however, continue throughout the state, an official spokesman said. By Monday, the relaxation was extended to 72 districts barring Meerut, Lucknow and Gorakhpur.

‘States, UTs still have 1.19 crore jabs'

More than 1.19 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Over 24 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through the Government of India (free of cost channel) and through the direct state procurement category. Of this, the total consumption, including wastages is 23,47,43,489 doses, the ministry said.

Also Read: Mumbai: Over 96,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses given on Tuesday, most by pvt centres

2,89,96,473
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in india so far

3,51,309
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

13,03,702
Total no. of active cases in India

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