Nation-wide COVID-19 vaccination drive for senior citizens begins
NEW DELHI:
The nationwide COVID-19 Vaccination phase to cover senior citizens and people above 45 years with co-morbidities kicked started on Monday, March 1.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday morning at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
How to register?
Citizens can register and book an appointment for vaccination through www.cowin.gov.in (COWIN 2.0 portal) or other IT applications such as Arogya Setu.
Where will the vaccine be administered?
The vaccine will be administered to these groups free of cost at ten thousand government hospitals across while the cost of the vaccine at around 20 thousand private Vaccination Centres will be borne by the people.
Private hospitals can charge up to Rs 250 per dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during the Vaccination Drive.
Direction to the States
The Union Health Ministry has given States the freedom to use all private hospitals empanelled under State Government Health Insurance Schemes as COVID Vaccination Centres.
The States can also use health facilities of all Public Sector Units (PSUs) and all government health facilities as COVID Vaccination Centres.
Also Read: PM Modi takes his first shot of COVID-19 vaccine
Three phases of the Registration Process
The States and Union Territories will roll out the simplified process of registration through three routes.
The first is advance self-registration under which the beneficiaries will be able to self-register by downloading the CO-Win 2.0 portal and through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu. This will show the government and private hospitals serving as COVID vaccination centres with the date and time of the available schedules. The beneficiary would be able to choose the COVID Vaccination Centres of his or her choice and book an appointment for vaccination. Appointments for any date for a COVID Vaccination Centre will be closed at 3 pm on that day for which the slots were opened.
The second is on-site registration which allows those who cannot self-register in advance to walk into the identified COVID vaccination centres and get themselves registered on-site and then vaccinated.
The third process is facilitated cohort registration under which the State and UT governments will take a proactive lead for COVID vaccination, identifying target groups of potential beneficiaries.
Extra Information
Eligible persons will be able to register at the Co-WIN2.0 portal through their mobile number. The user can log in at the portal with OTP from their registered mobile number.
With one mobile number, a person can register as many as four beneficiaries.
For online registration, the citizens can use photo identity documents like Aadhar Card, Electoral Photo Identity Card, Passport, Driving License, PAN Card, NPR Smart Card and Pension Document with a photograph.
The citizens can schedule themselves to the available time-slots for vaccination at a near-by COVID Vaccination Centre.
Citizens can download the confirmation of the appointment and it will be also shared through SMS on their registered mobile number.
The government has identified 20 specified Comorbidities that will prioritise the individuals for the COVID-19 vaccination. They include Heart failure with hospital admission in past one year, Post Cardiac transplant, Kidney and Liver transplant recipient or on wait-list, Leukaemia, lymphoma, HIV infection, Diabetes and Hypertension on treatment and Severe respiratory disease with hospitalization in the last two years.
(With inputs from All India Radio)
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