Covid Vaccination at Public, Private Sector from April 11: Centre

The Centre announced on Wednesday that it would begin allowing vaccinations at private and public establishments with approximately 100 registered beneficiaries on April 11. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated in a letter to states that the decision to increase access to vaccines was made because a large proportion of people aged 45 and above work in the organised sector and are engaged in formal occupations, manufacturing, and services.

The Centre has instructed states and union territories to prepare adequately and has released guidelines in this regard.

The Centre's guidelines are as follows:

Only workers 45 years of age or older would be liable for occupational vaccination.

No outsiders, even qualified family members, would be permitted to take part in the vaccine.

A senior member of the organization's staff will be designated as a nodal officer, working with district health authorities/private Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) and promoting vaccination activities.

Prior to vaccination, beneficiaries would be asked to register in the Co-WIN portal.

A CVC nodal officer will ensure that all targeted beneficiaries are registered, and on-the-spot registration will be possible.

Vaccination at workplace CVC will be scheduled until at least 50 beneficiaries have registered for vaccination.

Vaccination sessions can be scheduled up to 15 days in advance.

These government and private workplaces will be identified by the District Task Force, chaired by the district magistrate, and the Urban Task Force, chaired by the municipal commissioner.

Every CVC in a government workplace will be associated with an existing and nearby CVC in the government medical facility, while every CVC in a private workplace will be associated with an existing and nearby CVC in the private medical facility.

Deployment of the vaccination team at workplace CVCs will be the responsibility of the designated government and private CVC to whom the workplace CVC has been tagged.

This health infrastructure of the workplace CVCs' healthcare workers (such as physicians, nurses, and other staff) could be deployed as vaccination team members for Covid-19 vaccination activities at workplaces, it said.

Workplace CVCs workers participating in Covid-19 vaccination activities will adhere to the same vaccination and monitoring SOPs, including the control and reporting of adverse effects following immunisation.