Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made an important announcement regarding the country’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme. Following complaints from states regarding the cost of procurement of vaccines and shortage of supply, the Prime Minister today announced the centralisation of the vaccination drive, stating that all vaccines will be procured by the Government of India and given to states and union territories for free.

PM Modi said starting June 21, everyone above the age of 18 years will be able to get themselves vaccinated for free anywhere across the country at government-run vaccination centres, including hospitals.

However, the PM added, those who wish to pay for the vaccines can get themselves vaccinated at private hospitals.

So here’s how the amended vaccination drive will work:

1. The Centre already procures 50 per cent of vaccines from vaccine manufacturers like Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII) for inoculation of the 45 plus population free of cost. The Centre will continue this procurement and provide the quota to states.
2. The Centre had allowed the states and UTs to procure 25 per cent of the production capacity directly from manufacturers, under the liberalised phase of the vaccination programme, for the inoculation of the 18-44 age group population. The states were supposed to pay for this procurement and either provide it free to the eligible population or charge them. Now, it will be the Centre which will do this 25 per cent procurement and provide the vaccines free for the 18-44 age group as well. This system will be put in place in two weeks, the PM announced.
3. The Centre had earlier allowed private hospitals to procure 25 per cent of the vaccine production capacity. This procurement will continue. The PM announced that private hospitals can now take a maximum service charge of Rs 150 per dose above the cost of the vaccine. For the record, SII is providing Covishield to private hospitals for Rs 600 per dose, while Bharat Biotech is charging Rs 1,200 per dose from private hospitals. So, a private hospital will not be able to charge more than Rs 750 for a dose of Covishield and Rs 1,350 for a dose of the indigenously-developed Covaxin, excluding taxes and storage and transportation charges. The state government will have to ensure adherence to this directive.