COVID vaccination Phase 2 begins today, but you can’t pick your jab

A health worker takes a nasal swab of a passenger for a COVID-19 test at a railway station, in Mumbai. File pic/AFP

Reacting to a report that the health ministry has fixed Rs 250 per shot at private hospitals and health centres for Phase 2 of vaccination programme, she tweeted, "We r (sic) crushing instead of incentivising vaccine industry." She added, "Covid Vaccine Jab Capped At Rs 250 At Private Hospitals: Government - understand vaccine cos (sic) feel betrayed as price is too low to sustain." She asked, "If WHO has agreed to $3 per dose, why beat them down to $2?"

The COVID-19 vaccine will be given free of cost at government hospitals, while people will need to pay for it at private facilities. "R250 will be the ceiling - R150 per dose of vaccine plus Rs 100 service charge. This arrangement will remain effective till further orders," an official source said.

The beneficiary would be able to choose the COVID-19 vaccination centres of his/her choice and book an appointment for vaccination. However, people will not have the option of choosing between the two currently approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin.

The health ministry has specified 20 comorbidities - heart failure with hospital admission in past year, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, CT/MRI-documented stroke, diabetes of over 10 years or with complications, hypertension, end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis, diagnosis of any solid cancer on or after 2000 or currently on any cancer therapy.

Registration for Phase 2 of the vaccination drive on the Co-WIN2.0 portal - www.cowin.gov.in - will open at 9 am on Monday.

Kumbh violatiors to face action
Ahead of the Kumbh mela in Haridwar, the Uttarakhand government has made it mandatory for devotees to bring a negative report of RT-PCR test done within 72 hours of arrival and warned violators of penal action.

Arunachal turns coronavirus free
Arunachal Pradesh became a coronavirus-free state on Sunday with the three active cases recovering from the disease, a senior health official said. No fresh case was reported in the past 24 hours.

1,10,96,731
Total number of cases in the country as of today

1,64,511
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India

1,07,75,169
Patients recovered and discharged in India as of today

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever