All Private Hospitals Vaccine Centres Now: All You Need To Know About Our Vaccination Process

Over 1.54 crore COVID-19 doses have been administered so far, the government said on Tuesday. On Tuesday alone, over six lakh doses were administered, the Union Health Ministry said. The vaccination drive was launched on January 16 and healthcare workers (HCW) were the first ones to be administered COVID-19 vaccine shots.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. A total of 1,54,61,864 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till 7pm, the ministry said.

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All private hospitals now vaccine centres

Meanwhile, the government decided to allow private hospitals not affiliated to Ayushman Bharat, CGHS and state schemes to be included as centres for administrating the inoculations.

"Private hospitals not empanelled under the above-mentioned three categories have also been permitted to operate as CVCs if they have adequate number of vaccinators, adequate space for observation of the vaccinated, adequate cold chain arrangement and adequate arrangement for management of Adverse Events Following Immunisation(AEFI)," the statement issued by the health ministry said.

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The government said that the decision to allow all private hospitals to carry out vaccination drive was taken after a detailed presentation on the status of vaccination in various states/UTs. The central government assured that it has adequate stock of COVID-19 vaccines and will provide the required vaccine doses to the states and UTs.

'Get vaccinated 24x7 at your convenience'

This comes a day after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the Centre has removed time constraint to increase the speed of vaccination. Taking to Twitter, Harsh Vardhan wrote in Hindi: "People can get vaccinated 24x7 at their convenience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the value of both time and health of citizens."

AP

The Union Health Minister was replying to a news report that said private hospitals can choose any time window to vaccinate people. The Centre also said that the hospitals don't necessarily have to stick to a fixed schedule to vaccinate beneficiaries against the killer virus and can extend or advance the vaccination schedule any day.

Aim to ramp up vaccine drive

This will ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination exercise as more people will become eligible for the life-saving vaccine doses. Also, the flexible schedule allowed by the Centre is applicable to both private and government hospitals since those involved in the vaccination drive are linked by the government's CoWIN app and website.

AFP

A total of 6,09,845 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Tuesday, the forty-sixth day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination. Out of which 5,21,101 beneficiaries were vaccinated for first dose and 88,744 HCWs and FLWs received second dose of vaccine as per the provisional report, the ministry said, adding final reports would be completed for the day by late night.