Close to 40 lakh people have registered themselves toreceive the Covid vaccines shot on the CoWIN portal till Tuesday morning, theUnion Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan told reporters on Tuesday.
"It includes 34 lakh of those who were registered onMonday while the last I checked in the morning, more than 5 lakh people hadregistered themselves on the portal," he informed.
However, the minister said that the actual number ofregistration could be higher. "As you know that from a single number, aperson can register as many as four beneficiaries. Even if we reduce it to two,the number of actual registration may have gone beyond 70 lakh," heguessed.
Vardhan revealed the information after interacting withthe media after taking his vaccine shot at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute.He came along with his wife who also received the shot.
The couple chose the private hospital where they paid Rs250 each for the doses received. By choosing a private facility over a public,Vardhan sent out a clear message which he reiterated that a person having thecapacity to afford the costs of the vaccine, must get inoculated in a privatefacility.
"I want to appeal to everyone that those who canafford the vaccine, should get it from the private hospital nearest to thehome," he said.
Meanwhile the minister also spoke about the "vaccinemaitri" programme of India in which the country has sent and continues todeliver lakhs of Covid vaccine doses to other nations.
"We have sent our vaccines to around 40 countriesand about three to four dozens of nations will receive them shorty as well,"Vardhan said.
Earlier, in an exclusive interaction, Ministerof External Affairs S Jaishankar had told that the ministry will dispatchCovid vaccines to 36 nations scattered across the globe.
"It includes our neighbouring countries, South Asiannations, countries in the Gulf region, small islands near Australia, and SouthAmerican countries. So I'll say that we are reaching out to nations across theglobe," Jaishankar informed.
Vaccines are being provided free of charge at thegovernment health facilities and on a payment basis in the private healthfacilities. All private hospitals can charge Rs 150 for vaccines and Rs 100 forservice charges fixed by the central government.
Around 10,000 hospitals empanelled under AyushmanBharat-PMJAY and 687 hospitals under CGHS can be used by states as CovidVaccination Centres (CVCs).
Phase three of Covid vaccination covering 27 crore ofpopulation above aged above 60 and those above 45 with comorbidities startedfrom Monday. The previous two phases were started with vaccination of aroundthree crore of healthcare and frontline workers in India.