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Booster must be same as first two jabs, extra fee of ₹150 allowed
Private vaccination centres will be allowed to charge a maximum of ₹150 per dose as service charge in addition to the cost of the vaccines, the ministry said. The price of Covishield and Covaxin has been reduced to ₹225 at private facilities.
The third shot of Covid-19 vaccines will need to be of the same make as the first two doses, the health ministry said on Saturday, a day after allowing private health facilities to administer the booster dose for those aged 18 and above from April 10.
Private vaccination centres will be allowed to charge a maximum of ₹150 per dose as service charge in addition to the cost of the vaccines, the ministry said. The price of Covishield and Covaxin has been reduced to ₹225 at private facilities.
The health ministry on Saturday issued guidelines for private vaccinators for the administration of the precautionary or booster doses. They will be homologous, which means that if you have received the Covishield vaccine for your first and second doses, the third dose will also be of Covishield, and similarly for Covaxin.
The booster will be available to India’s 18-plus population after the completion of nine months, or 39 weeks, or 273 days from the date of receiving the second dose of the vaccine, the guidelines said on Saturday.
On Friday, the central government announced that the precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccines will be available to everyone aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres from April 10.
No fresh registration will be required for the booster shot as beneficiaries are already registered on the government’s CoWin portal, clarified health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who held an orientation meeting of health secretaries of all states and union territories on Saturday.
The private vaccination centres will allow both online and walk-in appointments, and all vaccinations will be recorded on the CoWin portal.
These doses will only be available at private centres from Sunday. Senior citizens, and health and front line workers will continue to receive their precautionary doses at government vaccination centres at no cost.
A detailed orientation of state officials was done on the new provisions made on CoWin to expand vaccination of the eligible population and also for correction of vaccination certificates asked for by citizens.
The states were also advised to hasten the ongoing administration of the free Covid-19 vaccination to people above 12 years of age, and for optimal administration of the precautionary dose for those eligible at government vaccination centres.
“Booster shots should be administered every six months,” said Dr Naresh Trehan, chairperson and managing director of the Medanta Group, who welcomed the government’s decision to allow booster doses in India.
