NEW DELHI: Even as many are eagerly waiting to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the government said it will “very soon” start inoculating a larger population of those above 50 years and those younger but with severe co-morbidities.
Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the third phase of Covid-19 vaccination will start “very soon” with larger participation from the private sector.
The private sector is already working very closely with the government in delivering healthcare. Out of over 10,000 hospitals currently involved in administering Covid vaccine, around 2,000 are from the private sector, Bhushan said. He also underlined the private sector participation in other public health schemes such as the free health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and the Central government Health Scheme (CGHS) – both of which have many private hospitals including big healthcare chains enrolled for providing services.
TOI reported on Monday that the government plans to rope in the private sector in a major way with 40-50% of the total sessions in the third phase likely to be in private sectors.
The government is aiming up to 50,000 sessions each day to cover larger population of around 27 crore in the next round which is likely to start early March.