529 govt, 761 pvt hospitals to act as vaccination sites for citizens

CHENNAI: The State is all set to commence the vaccination drive for senior citizens and those above 45 years with comorbidities on Monday. A total of 529 government hospitals and 761 private hospitals have been identified as centres undertaking the drive.

So far, a total of 4.57 lakh healthcare workers and frontline workers have been vaccinated against a target of 8.21 lakh. According to a release, Tamil Nadu has received 23.77 lakh doses, including 21 lakh of Covishield and 2.77 lakh doses of Covaxin.

Following the update of the app to Co-Win 2.0 application on Monday, beneficiaries can enrol themselves through self-registration. The release stated that CoWin

app would allow advance and onsite walk-in registrations, including pensioners’ association, residents’ welfare associations, and employee associations, bringing in eligible persons above 60 years and those between 45 years and 59 years with comorbidities. The Health Department has also encouraged similar advocacy and mobilisation in rural and semi-urban areas to ensure that people get facilitated without any problem.

The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr TS Selvavinayagam said that all the district deputy director of health services have been directed on the registration, verification process and the cost to be charged by the private hospitals. The total cost for a dose has been capped at Rs 250 for private hospitals, while government facilities will be offering them free of cost.

For the second phase of vaccination for people above 60 years (45 for those with comorbidities), beneficiaries have to register themselves on COWIN 2.0. Here is all you need to know about the process

HOW TO REGISTER FOR VACCINATION ONLINE

Visit cowin.gov.in and register yourself using your mobile number

OTP verification will be done to ensure the veracity of the phone number

Once the account is created, up to four individuals can be registered using the same phone number

ID card type and its number has to be provided

Each beneficiary will need their own ID card number

All the records of registration and appointment can be edited/deleted till the time of vaccination. But the record will be locked once the person gets vaccinated

If the beneficiary is between the age group of 45 to 59 years, they will be prompted to confirm the presence of any comorbidity. If any, they have to bring a comorbidity certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner at the time of appointment

Once all details are given, the registration will be complete and an acknowledgement will be sent to the registered mobile number

HOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

The portal will have details of all vaccination centres and the time table

One can choose the centre, date and slot according to their convenience and an appointment ticket will be generated

Only one appointment can be booked at a time for one beneficiary

Type of vaccine will not be disclosed at the time of appointment

Second dose will be automatically scheduled at the same centre on the 29th day of appointment for the first dose

If the date for 2nd vaccine needs to be changed, one can do so only after the first dose is administered. Centre can also be changed but only if your choice of centre has the same vaccine type as your first dose. The date of the second vaccine has to be between 29th and 42nd day of the first dose

Bookings will close at 12 pm on the day before the date