Relief / Corona precautionary dose from today, no need for new registration; Know here the terms and conditions for the booster dose

Amidst the threat of new variant XE of Corona, the central government has decided to give a precautionary or booster dose to people in the age group of 18+. This dosage will start from Sunday. For this, the central government along with the states has made preparations. People in the age group of 18 to 59 years will not need any kind of registration for getting the third dose. Because, the beneficiary will already be registered on Co-Win App. Apart from this, only the same vaccine will be used as the third dose, which will be given as the first and second dose. People will have to spend up to Rs 150 for a booster dose.

This is the purpose

The purpose of this move of the central government is to consume the prepared doses with the vaccine manufacturing companies. Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have stopped production of COVID-19 vaccines due to low demand and rising stocks. On the approval of the booster dose in India, Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum, said, “We are delighted with the Government of India announcement regarding the booster. This decision will provide long-term security. Poonawalla, in a conversation with some TV channels, indicated that Serum can provide vaccines to private hospitals at a cost of less than Rs 600 per dose.

This price is fixed for private hospital

Vaccine      price (Rs per dose)

Covishield   780

Covaccine   1,410

Sputnik V    1145

Corbevax     1,140

kovovax       1,095

Note: Inclusive of GST and vaccination charges of Rs.150

(Prices have not been announced. According to sources, SII has indicated to the Indian government that it plans to charge Rs 900 per dose in the private market, excluding other taxes.)

So much is coming

Booster doses for these segments of the population were approved in the first week of January. In June last year, the Center had fixed Rs 150 for a single dose of vaccine for private immunization centres. The Center had asked private immunization centers to charge a maximum of Rs 780 for Covishield, Rs 1,410 for Covaxin and Rs 1,145 for Sputnik V, including tax and levy charges. The cost of CoveShield for private centers comes to Rs 600 per dose, Rs 1,200 per dose for Covaxin and Rs 948 per dose (GST extra) for Sputnik V. Biologicals E has said that it will price Corbivax at Rs 800 per dose (all taxes extra). In a letter sent to the Health Ministry in March, Serum had said that it is considering fixing the price of Kovax (Nova Vax vaccine) in the private market at Rs 900 (tax extra). Zydus Lifesciences offers its three-dose DNA vaccine to the Zycov-D center at Rs 265 per dose and the needleless applicator device costs Rs 93 per dose.

Cost per dose of Covishield reduced from Rs 600 to Rs 225

The cost of the vaccine can be as low as Rs.375. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that if a hospital keeps the service charge low, then this expenditure can be further reduced. Earlier, Serum India CEO Adar Poonawalla informed about the decision to reduce the price of the vaccine through a tweet. He wrote, "We are happy to inform that after discussions with the government, we have decided to reduce the cost per dose of Kovishield from Rs 600 to Rs 225 for private hospitals." A day earlier on Friday, the company had informed about keeping the cost per dose of Kovishield at Rs 600. At the same time, Suchitra Ila, co-founder and joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, tweeted, "We welcome the decision to make the precautionary dose of the vaccine available to all adults in the country." For this, after talking to the government, we have decided to reduce the price from Rs 1200 per dose to Rs 225.

Now so many have got the vaccine

About 96 per cent of children over the age of 15 years have received at least one dose of the Kovid-19 vaccine, while about 83 per cent of the population over the age of 15 years have received both doses. According to the Kovin Dashboard, 1.85 billion doses of Kovid-19 vaccines have been administered in the country so far. In India, 83.3% of the total doses have been administered by the Covishield vaccine, while the Covaccine accounts for about 16 per cent of the total doses. Health workers, frontline workers and senior citizens have received around 2.28 booster doses.

Terms and Conditions for Booster Dose

The booster dose will be available at private immunization centres. The work of giving booster doses to the population above the age of 18 through private immunization centers will start from 10 April i.e. Sunday. Must be over 18 years of age for dosage. Also, only those who have completed 9 months after taking the second dose of Kovid will be able to take the booster dose. This facility will be available at all private immunization centers. People will have to pay money to get booster dose.

Mandatory to enter the details: It is also mandatory to enter the complete details of the precautionary dose on the COVIN portal. Private vaccine centers will have to operate as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.

No need for new registration

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, after a meeting with health secretaries of all states on Saturday, said that there will be no need for fresh registration for the precautionary dose, as all the beneficiaries are already registered on the Kovin portal.

Bharat Biotech asked private hospitals to make available the already existing stock of the vaccine at the new rate. The price gap will be bridged by providing new doses to hospitals. Five crore doses of vaccine are ready.

The vaccine that has already been given will be given

The central government has made it clear that in the precautionary dose, people will get the same vaccine, whose first and second doses they have taken. That is, the one who had taken Kovishield, he would get a precautionary dose of it.

Are there side effects of booster doses?

People may experience some temporary symptoms after taking the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. These include sore throat, swollen hands, fever, body aches, headache, and fatigue. Some people may also have chills, swollen lymph nodes. However, it is not a sign that you are sick. Some of these symptoms may appear as the immune system develops or in response to the vaccine. On the other hand, the ministry has also clarified that along with the ongoing free immunization program through government immunization centers for the first and second doses for the eligible population, as well as precautionary measures for health workers, frontline workers and population above 60. Dosing will continue and will be accelerated.

Vaccination campaign started on 16 January 2021

The nationwide vaccination campaign was launched on January 16, 2021, with healthcare workers being vaccinated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year. The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination began on March 1 last year with vaccines for people above 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above.

India started vaccination for all people above 45 years of age from 1st April last year. Following this, the government decided to expand its vaccination campaign by allowing everyone over the age of 18 to be vaccinated against the viral disease from May 1 last year. The next phase of vaccination has started from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.