In a recent case of incidents, some private hospitals in Tamilnadu have supposedly opened registrations for the COVID-19 vaccine to the general public. These instances have led the government to warn these private hospitals of possible license cancellation and that they would be facing consequences for their actions.

According to a report in the Times of India, the public health department had received various complaints and forward messages of private hospitals sending messages to their clients asking for personal details for vaccine registration. According to these private hospitals, registration on the government portal would be done by them once the portal opens. Moreover, according to one of the complaints received by the public health department, a fee is being demanded by some health workers to push people onto the “priority list”. 

J Radhakrishnan who is the Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare department spoke out against these private hospitals by saying that there will be a risk of cancellation of license and action to be faced under the Clinical Establishment Act. He added that as of now, the vaccine is strictly administered only to the health workers and moreover, the registrations also will only be carried out by the government. 

It had been reported recently that the government had allowed the COVID-19 vaccination to take place in two private hospitals in Chennai. However, it is strictly only for healthcare workers. 

In conclusion, the COVID-19 vaccination can only be registered by the government and through the government in the order of importance as stated by the government. Any other calls for private registration should be avoided at all costs.