Covid-19 vaccination: Second phase starts today, Rs 250 for jab in pvt hospitals

NEW DELHI: The second phase of the vaccination drive against deadly coronavirus in India started on Monday. The largest phase will cover over 27 crore of the population aged above 60 or above 45 with co-morbidity.

The centre has approved two coronavirus vaccine candidates Covishield and COVAXIN for the massive immunisation programme, whose 1,42,42,547 doses have been administered so far, which includes over 70 per cent of health workers.

However, registration is required to receive the vaccine doses. The government has provided three modes for the registration of eligible beneficiaries’ online, on-site and facilitated cohort registration. The first is advance self-registration under which 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.

The ministry said that any person can get vaccinated at any centre. Government hospitals will provide the vaccine for free; while private hospitals will charge Rs 250 for every dose this will include Rs 150 for vaccine and a Rs 100 service charge.

 The Ministry stated that one time a beneficiary can book at any time for each dose. Appointments can be taken up to 3 pm on the day for which the registration will open. For example, for vaccination on March 1, registration will be done between 9 am and 3 pm. Any person can take an appointment only during this period. However, booking can be done on March 1 for a further date.

The beneficiaries taking the first dose can make a booking on the same portal for the second dose on the 29th day. But if a beneficiary cancels the booking of the first dose, the booking of both his doses will be cancelled, as the difference of 28 days between the first dose and the second dose is mandatory.

According to the ministry, if an eligible person is not able to register on the portal, then he can register directly by going to the vaccination centre. He will also be vaccinated immediately if the slot is empty.

The government upgraded the CoWIN which was being used in the initial two phases of the vaccination for immunisation of healthcare and frontline workers. It was created for real-time monitoring of Covid-19 vaccine delivery. Eligible people can register themselves on the platform from Monday onwards. The platform can be accessed via the web or through a mobile application.

 This information was shared by the Union Ministry of Health and the National Health Authority (NHA) in a workshop organized for private hospitals registered under various government schemes recently on the Co-Win 2.0 portal. These hospitals include 10,000 hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), more than 600 hospitals included in the panel of Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and others in the panel of health insurance schemes of state governments including private hospitals.

 A new feature has been added to Co-Win 2.0, a digital platform specially designed for corona vaccination, which provides detailed information on 20 critical diseases. Apart from this, health workers of private hospitals have also been trained to treat adverse effects seen in the beneficiaries after vaccination.