After the extension of Covid-19 vaccination to all citizens aged 45 years or more from 1 April 2021, the union government has taken what could be termed as a “crucial” step to extend the cover of vaccination while easing the exercise for the segment of citizens, a substantial proportion of whom are in the organised sector of the economy and are Centre Allows Covid Vaccination at Govt, Pvt Workplaces. Here are Guidelines:involved in formal occupation in offices (government and private) or manufacturing and services, among others.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has written to all states and UTs that Covid-19 vaccination sessions may now be organised at workplaces – both public and private – which are having about 100 eligible and willing beneficiaries by tagging these workplaces with an existing COVID Vaccination Center (CVC).

To support the states in this initiative, Union Health Secretary has prepared the guidelines that have been conveyed to the states and UTs. These guidelines will support the state and District Programme Managers with the requisite information and guide them on organising vaccination sessions at such workplaces both public and private. Such workplace vaccination centres may be launched across states / UTs from 11 April 2021.

States have been further advised to initiate due consultations with private and public sector employers and management to prepare for the launch of workplace vaccination.

The union government in constant consultation with state governments/UT administration continues consistently make efforts to ensure that the vaccination drive is more pragmatic and also more acceptable and purposeful to the beneficiaries, MoHFW said.

The Guidelines are as follows:

Identification of Work Places for Covid-19 vaccination:

• The District Task Force (DTF) chaired by District Magistrate and Urban Task Force (UTF) chaired by Municipal Commissioner will identify such government and private Work Places after due deliberations with relevant employers and/or Head of offices
• Work Place management will designate one of their senior staff to work as ‘Nodal Officer’ to coordinate with district health authorities / private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs) and support vaccination activities
• The Nodal Officer will oversee and facilitate all aspects of vaccination at Work Place CVC like registration of beneficiaries, availability of physical and IT infrastructure and oversight to vaccination, etc

Identification of Eligible and Willing Beneficiaries at Work Places

• Only employees of Work Place aged 45 years or more will be eligible for vaccination at Work Place, no outsiders including eligible family members will be allowed for vaccination at ‘CVC at Work Place’.
• Beneficiaries must be registered in the Co-WIN portal prior to vaccination. CVC Nodal Officer will ensure registration of all targeted beneficiaries and facility of on-the-spot registration will also be available but only to employees of the workplace.

Registration of Work Place as CVC in Co-WIN

• Once identified, all such Work Place vaccination centres will be registered in the CoWIN portal as government or private COVID-19 Vaccination Centre (CVC) at Work Place.
• The name of Workplace CVC should be recorded in Co-WIN as full name and not an abbreviation to have clarity.
• DTF / UTF will ensure verification of the availability of three rooms as waiting, vaccination and observation rooms at Work Place CVC (refer to Annexure 1). These rooms should be part of the permanent structure of the Work Place or a proper and stable structure like hangars should be erected. Temporary shamiyana / tent-like structure should not be used.
• Once verified, DIO will ensure registration of Work Place CVC in Co-WIN portal

Linkage of Work Place CVC with Public and Private CVCs

• Every CVC in the government Workplace will be tagged to an existing and nearest CVC in the government medical facility
• Every CVC in a private Workplace will be tagged to an existing and nearest CVC in the private medical facility
• The designated government and private CVC to whom the Work Place CVC has been tagged will be responsible for the deployment of vaccination team at Work Place CVCs
• The in-charge of the designated government and private CVC to whom the Work Place CVC has been tagged will plan a session at the Work Place CVC. For optimal utilisation of resources, vaccination session will be planned at Work Place CVC once at least 50 beneficiaries get registered for vaccination
• In charges of government or private CVCs with which the Work Place CVCs are tagged for Covid-19 vaccination will be responsible to provide vaccine and ensure reporting in Co-WIN from these Work Place CVCs
• The schedule of the vaccination session can be made up to 15 days in advance and intimated to the Work Places so that maximum attendance is ensured on the day of vaccination. In most of the workplaces vaccination schedule may, however, be completed in less than 15 days

Linkage of Work Place CVC with cold chain points

All government and private CVCs are already linked to some cold chain point for receiving the vaccine. These CVCs will continue to use the same mechanism to receive the vaccine needed for vaccination at tagged Work Place CVC.

Engaging health infrastructure and health care workers of Work Place CVC

• Some of the Work Places may have health infrastructure in form of hospitals, health clinics, nursing centres, etc. This infrastructure may be utilized to set up vaccination site in case sufficient space for waiting, vaccination and observation rooms are available (refer to Annexure 1)
• The health care workers of this health infrastructure of the Work Place CVCs (such as doctors, nurses and other staff) may be deployed for the Covid-19 vaccination activities at Work Places as vaccination team members
• In-charges of government or private CVCs with which the Work Place CVCs are tagged for Covid-19 vaccination will be responsible to ensure training of these health care staff prior to deployment
• The Workplace CVCs staff engaged in Covid-19 vaccination activities will follow the same SOPs for vaccination and reporting including management and reporting of AEFIs

Deployment of Vaccination team at Work Place CVC

• District health authorities will normally deploy the vaccination team at government Work Places. Private CVC will deploy the vaccination team at private Work Places
• One fully trained vaccination team will be assigned to vaccinate 100 beneficiaries at Work Place CVC. Additional teams shall be deployed in case workload is more than 100 beneficiaries and if sufficient space for vaccination is available (refer to Annexure 1).
• The management of WorkPlace will be responsible for arranging adequate rooms/space for vaccination (waiting room, vaccination room and observation room)
• Each team will consist of:

– Team leader (necessarily a doctor),

– Vaccinator (authorized to give injections),

– Vaccination Officer-1 to work as a verifier to work on CoWIN and

– Vaccination officers-2 & 3 for crowd management and AEFI observation

Role of individual team members are defined as refer Annexure 2

AEFI Management:

• All Work Place CVC will have a medical officer as a supervisor / team leader
• All Work Place CVC will have an anaphylaxis kit for management of any adverse event and will be linked to the nearest Health Facility (AEFI Management Centre) in case of referral for medical management post vaccination that may be required. The travel time from Work Place CVC to the AEFIs management centre should be less than one hour
• A basic life support (BLS) ambulance must mandatorily be deployed at the Work Place CVC and should be utilised for shifting beneficiaries to the linked AEFI management centre if required.

Vaccination at Work Place CVC:

• One type of vaccine will be provided at such sessions that are conducted at the Work Places. This is necessary to avoid mixing vaccine types in the first and second dose of a beneficiary.
• Beneficiaries at the Work Place who have already received one dose of a vaccine different from the one being administered at the Work Place CVC shall not be vaccinated at a session in the Work Place CVC. They are expected to get the second dose of the same vaccine at an appropriate Covid vaccination centre. However, those who have received the same vaccine as the first dose may be provided a second dose at the Work Place CVC.
• The full list of beneficiaries, as available in Co-WIN, will be visible to all verifiers and vaccinators, the option of on-the-spot registration will also be available
• Verification will be done by Verifier (Vaccination Officer-1) preferably using Aadhar.
• In case Aadhar authentication is not possible for any reason, the Verifier will verify the identity and eligibility of the beneficiary from the photo ID Card indicated by the beneficiary at the time of registration.
• Apart from Aadhar, other IDs approved by the MoHFW are: 1. EPIC, 2. Passport, 3. Driving license, 4.PAN Card, 5. Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, 6. Pension Document with Photograph.
• If the identity and eligibility of a beneficiary is established upon verification, the beneficiary will be vaccinated and his/her vaccination status will be updated, else the beneficiary will not be vaccinated.
• All Vaccination must be recorded in real time through the Co-WIN Vaccinator Module on the same day.
• The digital vaccination certificate of the beneficiary will be generated through Co-WIN, Work Place CVC Nodal Person will be responsible for providing a printed copy of the vaccination certificate, both after 1st and 2nd doses, to the beneficiary, on site after vaccination.
• Operational guidelines and standard operating procedure for COVID-19 vaccination should be referred for detailed planning and operationalization. These are available at: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/COVID19VaccineOG111Chapter16.pdf; https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/GuidancedocCOWIN2.pdf

Monitoring of vaccination at Work Place CVCs

• In charges of government or private CVCs with which the Work Place CVCs are tagged for COVID-19 vaccination will review site preparedness and other preparatory activities prior to vaccination.
• District and Urban task forces will plan random monitoring at the Work Place CVCs to ensure:

– Adherence to standard operating procedures for vaccination including verification of beneficiaries to ensure only eligible beneficiaries are vaccinated

– Training status of human resources

– AEFI management

Financial Guidelines for Vaccination at Work Places:

• Covid-19 vaccination at government Work Place organized by district health authorities will be free of cost.
• Covid-19 vaccination organized by private CVC would be on payment basis and will be at same rate as of vaccination at private health facility

– Service charge subject to a ceiling of Rs 100 per person per dose,

– Vaccine cost Rs 150 per person per dose.

– Hence, the financial ceiling of the total amount recoverable by private health facility is Rs 250 per person per dose

• The Private health facility that will be organizing vaccination at the private sector Workplace will deposit the cost of vaccines upfront in the bank account designated by the National Health Authority. The hospitals will provide proof of payments to the DIO in charge of the district concerned. The payment gateway on the NHA portal will be used by the private CVC for this purpose

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