Apollo Hospitals acquire COVID vaccines from makers; to begin 18+ inoculation from May 1

In a key development on Friday, the Apollo Hospitals Group announced that it would begin vaccinating persons aged between 18 and 44 from May 1 onwards. The group's presence includes 12,000 beds across 72 hospitals, more than 3800 pharmacies, over 90 primary care clinics and 650 diagnostic centres, 148 plus telemedicine centres, over 15 medical education centres etc. Citing the criticality of inoculating people to mitigate the impact of the second novel coronavirus wave, Apollo Hospitals procured COVID-19 vaccines directly from the manufacturers.

While the Centre's procurement price for both COVISHIELD and COVAXIN remains at Rs.150 per dose, the corresponding price for the private hospitals was pegged at Rs.600 and Rs.1200 respectively. In order to be administered the vaccine, an individual has to book a prior appointment on the CoWIN portal. While acknowledging that limited stock of vaccines will be available initially, the group assured that the drive will be ramped up in the weeks ahead. It is pertinent to note that most states barring UP, Gujarat and Haryana have delayed the commencement of the new inoculation phase owing to a paucity of vaccine doses.

Commenting on this announcement, Apollo Hospitals Group Executive Vice Chairperson Shobana Kamineni remarked, “The second wave has come like a tsunami with an exponential rise in the number of cases. The Government’s decision to open up the vaccination program and permit private hospitals to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers is a much-required step to counter the COVID-19 threat. The success of the Government and private sector working together in the area of testing for COVID-19 played a major role in the country’s success in controlling the spread of the vaccine last year. Similarly, this step will empower the private sector to use their extensive experience in supporting vaccination programs through the years, giving a major boost to the pace of vaccination and putting the vaccination program on the fast track as we move forward to vaccinate our large population. The second wave of infections has seen younger patients getting affected and vaccinating everyone above the age of 18 will help in stopping the relentless rise in COVID cases and bring a COVID-free future closer to reality.”

New vaccination phase in India

In a huge announcement on April 19, the Centre relaxed the age bar for vaccination from May 1 onwards and mentioned that vaccine manufacturers can supply 50 per cent of its doses to state governments and in the open market. The private hospitals shall have to procure their supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines exclusively from this quota. However, they will have to follow all protocols such as being captured on the CoWIN platform and linked to AEFI reporting.

At the same time, vaccination shall continue at Government of India vaccination centres for healthcare and frontline workers and those above 45 years. Additionally, the Centre stated that it will allocate vaccine doses to the states from the remaining 50% quota based on factors such as the number of active cases, speed of administration and vaccine wastage. A total of 12,52,02,806 persons have been inoculated in India till now, 2,65,28,460 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.