Senior citizens can register on-site for vaccine shots

NEW DELHI: As India gears up to vaccinate people above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities against Covid-19 from March 1, the Union health ministry on Friday said the facility of on-site registrations will be available so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and get inoculated.

The beneficiaries will be able to self-register in advance by downloading the Co-WIN 2.0 portal and through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu etc which will list the government and private hospitals serving as Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs) with the date and time of the available schedules. The beneficiary would be able to choose the CVC of his/ her choice and book an appointment for immunisation, the ministry said.

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 vaccination sessions will not be held this Saturday and Sunday in view of the Co-Win digital platform transitioning from Co-Win 1.0 to Co-Win 2.0 as India gears up to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 years with comorbidities against the infection from March 1.

All states and UTs have been already informed about this transition, the Union Health ministry said.

The Co-Win software was created for real-time monitoring of Covid-19 vaccine delivery.

The nationwide Covid-19 inoculation drive to vaccinate healthcare workers was launched on January 16 by the prime minister. Vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.

“The country wide vaccination exercise is being exponentially expanded to include those above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with co-morbidities, from March 1. On this Saturday and Sunday (Feb 27 and 28), the Co-Win digital platform will be transitioning from Co-Win 1.0 to Co-Win 2.0. In view of this, COVID-19 vaccination sessions will not be scheduled during these two days. The states and UTs have been already informed about this transition,” the ministry said.

According to official sources eligible beneficiaries would be able to register themselves on the Co-Win platform from Monday itself after the transition.

There will also be a walk-in provision for beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the session site itself to get vaccinated.

Everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get Covid-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals, the government said on Wednesday.

“Eligible beneficiaries would be able to register themselves on the Co-Win platform from March 1 itself. There will also be a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated,” said R S Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Administration.

He said the new version of the Co-Win platform will be GPS enabled and beneficiaries will have the option to choose the inoculation session sites both at the government and private facilities.

For those who would walk in, there will be volunteers to help those who are not techsavvy to get registered.