Centre has allowed people above the age of 45 years to get vaccinated at workplaces. (Representational)
The Union Health Ministry on Saturday in a letter to states and union territories (UTs) allowed family members and dependants of the employees to be covered in the Covid vaccination drives conducted at workplaces.
Earlier, in order to increase the accessibility of Covid vaccines, the Union Health Ministry had allowed people above the age of 45 years to get vaccinated at public and private workplaces.
With the extension of vaccine beneficiaries to the 18-44 age group in the third phase of the vaccination drive, the guideline of opening it to family members of the employees increases its accessibility multi-fold.
The official letter stated, "The family members and the dependants of the workers, as defined by the respective employers, can also be covered with Covid-19 vaccination at the Industrial Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) and the Workplace CVCs."
It further stated that, for covering these beneficiaries, the vaccine will have to be procured by the private hospitals with whom the respective employer has tied up for the vaccination.
As for Government Workplace CVC, the beneficiaries aged 45 years or more may be covered through the free vaccine doses supplied by the Government of India to the States/UTs.
The beneficiaries in the age group of 18 to 44 years may be covered through the vaccine doses directly procured by the respective State/UT Government from the vaccine manufacturers, it added.