Covid-19: Hospitals cannot charge more than Rs 150 as service fee above vaccine price, says Centre
The booster shot must be of the same vaccine as the last two doses, the government said.
Private vaccination centres can charge a maximum of Rs 150 as service charge over the cost of precautionary Covid-19 doses, said the Union goverment on Saturday.
This directive comes a day after the Union Ministry of Health announced that precautionary shots of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available to those aged 18 and above from Sunday. The doses will only be available at private vaccination centres.
On Sunday, Covaxin and Covishield announced that they have priced their precautionary doses at Rs 225.
We are pleased to announce that after discussion with the Central Government, SII has decided to revise the price of COVISHIELD vaccine for private hospitals from Rs.600 to Rs 225 per dose. We once again commend this decision from the Centre to open precautionary dose to all 18+.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) April 9, 2022
Announcing #CovaxinPricing .
— Suchitra Ella (@SuchitraElla) April 9, 2022
We welcome the decision to make available precautionary dose for all adults. In consultation with the Central Government, we have decided to revise the price of #COVAXIN from Rs 1200 to Rs 225 per dose, for #privatehospitals.🇮🇳💉💉💉😷
On Saturday, the health ministry said that the precautionary shot must be of the same vaccine as the last two doses. Also, beneficiaries do not have to register again on CoWin platform for the precautionary dose.
Private vaccination centres will accept both online appointments and walk-in registrations. “Every inoculation dose must be mandatorily recorded on the CoWin application,” said the Centre.
On Thursday, the Centre had said that about 96% of the population above the age of 15 has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, while 83% has received both the shots.
So far, more than 2.4 crore precautionary shots have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above. “About 45% of 12 to 14 years age group have also received the first dose,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, India recorded 1,050 new cases, and the daily positivity rate is 0.25%, according to the health ministry. The active caseload stands at 11,365, and 1,194 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. So far, India has administered 185.55 crore vaccines.