Starting Tuesday, Covid-19 vaccine doses that are to be provided by the Central government to states and the Union Territories (UTs) free of cost will be allocated based on criteria such as population, disease burden and the progress of vaccination.
The revised guidelines will come into effect from June 21 and will be reviewed from time to time and these elements were included in the fresh guidelines for implementation of the National Covid vaccination programme.
The Centre has made it clear that vaccination will be prioritized to Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers, citizens more than 45 years of age, citizens whose second dose has become due and citizens 18 years and above.
Within the population group of citizens more than 18 years of age, the guidelines mentioned, states and the UTs may decide their own prioritization factoring in the vaccine supply schedule.
The new guidelines came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared free vaccines to all aged above 18 years of age from June 21 with the Centre providing free vaccine doses to all states and UTs.
Among the main pointers of the guidelines, it is mentioned that the government of India will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country.
The vaccines procured will continue to be provided free of cost to states and the UTs as has been the case from the commencement of the national vaccination programme. These doses will be administered by the states and the UTs free of cost to all citizens as per priority through government vaccination centres.
The Central government will provide states and UTs advance information of vaccine doses to be supplied to them, said the guideline, adding “states or UTs should similarly, further allocate doses well in advance to districts and vaccination centres”.
(With IANS inputs)