In order to promote the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in India, the Government of India has decided to allow around 24000 private hospitals across the country to start using Covishield and Covaxin vaccines.
In the next round of vaccination program, from 1 March 2021, people over 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with any disease will be vaccinated on priority basis. At present, negotiations are going on with the private health sector of the country to create a program for this. It will also include a discussion on the cost of Covid-19 vaccination from private hospitals. It also includes a training module for vaccinated health workers. Meanwhile, vaccination of people in government hospitals will continue without any expense.
What are two vaccines, what can they cost?
The authorization for the emergency use of Covid-19K vaccines in India was granted Covishield by researchers at Oxford University and the British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca. It is being manufactured at the Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune. Covaxin is being produced at Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited.
The Serum Institute of India has said that 1.1 crore doses will be supplied to the central government at the rate of Rs 200 per dose of its vaccine. Similarly, the government has purchased the first 55 lakh doses of Covaxin from Biotech at a cost of 206 per dose. More than 1.25 crore people have taken the first dose, while more than 20 lakh people have taken the second dose. The health workers were first given the Covid vaccine.