More than 1.27 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines were directly acquired by private hospitals in the month of Mayas part of the "Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy", stated the government on Tuesday. The strategy had come into effect from May 1.

Minister of State for Health, Bharati Pravin Pawar, stated in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha that 83.61 lakh doses of the vaccines were administered at private vaccination centers (CVCs) from May through 15th June.

She stated that 127.34 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines were obtained directly by private hospitals in May under the strategy that came into effect from May 1.

Responding to whether several government vaccination centers were closed till June 20 owing to a shortage of vaccines while private hospitals had a considerable number of vaccines available, she stated that the Central government has been providing a sufficient amount of vaccines to the states free of cost.

The states receive information about the number of doses to be made available to them 15 days prior so that they can prepare to speed up vaccination coverage while being aware of the available vaccines, said the minister.

As of July 25, 44.91 crore doses have been provided to the states and Union territories free of cost and an amount of Rs 9,725.15 crore has been spent on the COVID-19 vaccination program thus far, which includes procurement of vaccines and operational cost for vaccination, responded Pawar to another question.

The "Revised Guidelines for Implementation of National COVID Vaccination Programme" came into effect from June 21, which state that the Center is procuring 75% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses produced in the country and providing those to the states for free.

The vaccine manufacturers can provide up to 25% of their monthly vaccine production to private hospitals.

Source: ET Healthworld