Family members may receive Covid-19 inoculations at workplace vaccination centres through tie-ups with private hospitals, the Union health ministry has said, revising an April 6 policy that had kept family members out.

The health ministry, in an advisory sent to all states on Friday, said the family members and dependants of workers in industrial or workplace vaccination centres may also be inoculated with vaccines procured by private hospitals.

The decision follows several queries received by the ministry seeking vaccines for workers’ family members and is in line with the Centre’s efforts to accelerate the pace of vaccinations, the ministry said.

India has administered more than 193 million doses since the start of the vaccination campaign in January, but only about 45 million (less than 5 per cent) of the estimated 950 million beneficiaries have received two doses needed for full protection.

The ministry had introduced workplace inoculations from April 11, saying vaccination teams could visit workplaces and vaccinate up to 100 beneficiaries during each session, with each workplace tagged to the nearest government or private vaccination centre.

The Centre is procuring and supplying vaccine doses to all states to inoculate adults 45 years or older and has allowed states to vaccinate people between 18 and 45 years by procuring vaccines on their own. Vaccine shortages nationwide, however, have slowed the plan.