Come July 1, pvt hospitals can procure COVID-19 vaccines only through CoWIN portal

New Delhi, June 30: Starting July 1 the rules of procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine for private hospitals will undergo a change. Private hospitals will not be allowed to procure the vaccine directly from the manufacturer, but will have to place their orders through the CoWIN platform.

From July 1 onwards, there will be a slot on the CoWIN platform for private hospitals through which they can procure the vaccines. The decision was taken to make the process transparent and simple. While the approval for the vaccines will be given on the CoWIN platform, the payments have to be made electronically through the National Health Authority Portal, following which the order will be processed. All private hospitals will have to register on the CoWIN platform in order to place orders for the vaccines.

On June 7 Prime Minister Narendra Modi said starting June 21 the Centre will buy 75 per cent of the total vaccine production from manufacturers and give it free of cost to the state government apart from bearing the responsibility of 25 per cent of the work related to vaccination with the states.