BackDon’t reserve all 25% of doses for pvt hospitals, vax cos told
The Centre has asked covid-19 vaccine makers not to reserve all of the 25% of their vaccines for private hospitals following the slow pace of inoculation in private sector vaccination centres, effectively removing the cap announced in June
PremiumThe Centre has asked covid-19 vaccine makers not to reserve all of the 25% of their vaccines for private hospitals following the slow pace of inoculation in private sector vaccination centres, effectively removing the cap announced in June.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Parliament on Tuesday that unused doses in the private sector will now be shifted to government vaccination centres.
“The central government has spoken to the vaccine manufacturers and has asked them to release only that amount of doses for which the orders have been placed and not reserve 25% of the total doses manufactured by them," said Mandaviya. The move is aimed at increasing the supply of vaccines to states and Union territories to be administered free of charge.
The government in June changed its vaccine procurement policy from buying 50% to 75% of total production and leaving 25% for the private sector to be procured directly from the manufacturers.
In order to incentivize production and encourage new vaccines, domestic manufacturers have been given the option to also provide vaccines directly to private hospitals, with a cap of 25% of their monthly production.
But low immunization numbers at private covid vaccination centres (PCVCs) prompted the Union government last month to ask states to review vaccine procurement by PCVCs on a daily basis.
The private sector welcomed the decision.
“This is a well-thought-out decision. The 25% quota for the private sector was fixed by the government based on the expectation of possible share that the private vaccination centres could shoulder, at a time when half of all vaccinations were to be free of charge for the public. However, with the central government deciding to increase the free vaccinations to 75%, the number of people willing to pay for the vaccination has reduced significantly," said Dr Harsh Mahajan, president, Nathealth, Healthcare Federation of India, a private healthcare industry body.
“Consequently, the private sector has been able to only vaccinate about 7% of all since 1 May. The health minister has correctly decided that a fixed quota of 25% may not be prudent and has instead decided that whatever doses are ordered by the private sector may be sold to them by the manufacturers, with no upper or lower limit," said Mahajan.
“This will help the government in buying all the balance doses and lead to faster vaccination of the adult population and hopefully lead to minimizing the effects of the third wave," Mahajan added.
India has so far administered 488 million covid-19 doses.
The country reported 42,625 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with over 516 deaths.
India’s active caseload currently stands at 410,353, with active cases constituting 1.29% of total cases.
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