Centre asks states to review procurement of covid vaccines by the private sector
Premium- Private covid vaccination centres have shown low immunization numbers under the nationwide coronavirus inoculation drive
NEW DELHI : The Union government on Wednesday asked respective states to review vaccine procurement by private covid vaccination centres (PCVCs) on a daily basis, as these centres have shown low immunization numbers under the nationwide coronavirus inoculation drive.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday chaired a high-level virtual meeting with health secretaries and senior immunization officials of 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh, and Union territories (UTs). Nodal representatives from the two covid vaccine manufactures, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII), were also present.
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The Centre wanted to review the progress of vaccine procurement and administration by PCVCs after the revised guidelines for universalization of the countrywide covid vaccination programme and recent advisories. States were again informed of the usage of Co-WIN platform as the backend management tool for order placements. States/UTs are required to aggregate this demand.
Bhushan termed the slow pace of vaccination through the PCVCs as a “cause for serious worry" and said PCVCs have not placed any indent for the earmarked quantum of covid-19 vaccines.
He said many state governments need to facilitate the vaccine procurement by PCVCs, and advised them to review the status on a daily basis and ensure that indents for the earmarked quantum were quickly placed with the private vaccine manufacturers.
“In many cases, while the indent for covid-19 vaccine was placed with state governments, payment was not made for the entire number of indented vaccines. In some cases, no payment has been made for the entire indented quantity. State governments and PCVCs were advised to ensure that the gap between the indented quantity and payment towards their procurement was reduced to zero," said Bhushan.
“In some states, the quantity of vaccines paid for has not been physically lifted by the states/PCVCs. The states/PCVCs have to quickly ensure lifting of dispatched doses. In some states, wherever vaccine doses have been lifted by PCVCs, the actual administration of covid-19 vaccines is seen to be less than the vaccine quantity lifted," he said, and advised them to review this and ensure that the balance of unutilized vaccine doses were quickly administered.
The central government advised states to ensure speedy and effective coordination between the PCVCs and the vaccine manufactures to remove bottlenecks, if any.
It was pointed out that advance visibility of the covid-19 vaccines to the states by Union health ministry is, in turn, required to be communicated to the citizens by states. Union health ministry has organized five regional workshops to orient nodal officers of states and PCVCs for placing indent on Co-Win, payment for the quantum of doses, etc. States were advised to indicate if any further refresher training sessions were required. These shall be organized based on requirement of the states. During the review meeting, roles of the states/UTs for demand aggregation and roles of the covid-19 vaccine manufacturers in quick dispatch were further outlined.
The national cumulative covid-19 vaccination coverage on Wednesday exceeded 38.76 crore.
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