New Delhi, April 24: Ahead of the roll-out of vaccination of people aged between 18 and 45 from May 1, the Centre on Saturday asked states to register additional private vaccination centres and ensure effective crowd management at sites and stressed on inoculation through “only online registration” for beneficiaries in the age bracket.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to Combat COVID-19 chairman R S Sharma held a high-level meeting on Saturday to guide states and union territories on effective implementation of the new vaccination strategy (Phase-3) and to review their augmentation plans so as to strengthen the existing hospital and clinical treatment infrastructure for COVID-19 patients.
With regards to the Phase-3 vaccination strategy from May 1, the states were advised to register additional private COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) on mission mode by engaging with private hospitals, hospitals of industrial establishments, industry associations, etc., the health ministry said in a statement.
They have also been asked to monitor the number of hospitals that have procured vaccines and have declared stocks and prices on COWIN portal and schedule vaccination for eligible population for providing adequate visibility of vaccination slots on COWIN, the ministry said.
The states and UTs were asked to prioritise decision on direct procurement of vaccines by State/UT Government and publicising about facility of ‘only online registration’ for the 18-45 age group.
They were also asked to train vaccination centre staff about vaccination. (PTI)