India’s mega Covid booster shot programme begins from today – Here’s all you need to know

A day before the Covid-19 booster shoot drive is rolled out, both major vaccine manufacturers went on to announce a massive price cut on their vaccines.

The Covid-19 vaccines Covishied which is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Covaxin from Bharat Biotech earlier used to cost Rs 600 and Rs 1200 respectively, but will now be available for Rs 225 per dose. Private vaccination centres would have a service charge of up to Rs 150 per dose above the vaccine cost. The government said that the recipients would be able to see the total cost on the Co-WIN portal in advance.

The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in guidelines to states on Saturday that the private centres should declare the price per dose that they would charge on Co-WIN, in accordance to the prices declared by the manufacturers.

People above the age of 18 years or older will be eligible for the third dose if nine months have passed since they got their second dose, which means that all adults that got their second shot on July 9, 2021, or before that would be eligible for a precautionary dose.

The Co-WIN system would send SMS alerts to all citizens who would be eligible for their third shots based on the earlier vaccination details in their digital records.

The booster shots will be given at private establishments against payment, while the priority groups of healthcare workers, frontline workers, and individuals above the age of 60 will get their third dose for free at the government vaccination centres.

The centre informed the states that recipients will be able to make appointments online with the private vaccination centres or schedule their shots on the spot and those who have registered on Co-WIN will not be required to register again to receive the third dose.

The Ministry also noted that the recipients will get the same vaccine of Covishield or Covaxin, as per the previous records of the first two vaccinations.