Cases of over-charging and confusion about the new government guidelines on pricing marred the first day of the COVID precaution dose vaccine roll-out for the 18+ population across the country even as some private centres opted to wait for clarity on the process.
The Health Ministry earlier this week had announced that precaution doses of COVID vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield — will be made available to all adults at private vaccination centres at ₹225. Following this announcement, vaccine manufacturers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech announced that private hospitals should make available their vaccines at the revised rate effective April 10, 2022.
“The price differential with any existing stocks of Covaxin in private hospitals shall be compensated in the form of additional doses,’’ said Bharat Biotech. Serum Institute of India in a tweet on Sunday said: “the price differential for the existing useable stocks of Covishield shall be compensated in the form of cost-free doses. Due process will be informed to all private hospitals soon.’’
