Sr citizens, those with co-morbidities above 45 years can register on-site & get vaccine

Beneficiaries will be able to self-register in advance on Co-WIN 2.0 portal and on other apps as Aarogya Setu

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 immunization, the ministry said.

Vaccination will be free of charge at the government vaccination centres. Those taking the COVID vaccine at any designated/empanelled private health facility will have to pay a pre-fixed charge, it said.

The Centre shared this information with Health Secretaries and MDs (National Health Mission) of states and UTs during a high-level meeting which was chaired by Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, along with Dr R. S Sharma, Chairperson of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (CoWIN) and member, National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of COVID-19 (NEGVAC) on the vaccination of age-appropriate groups through a video conference.

The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16. This is now to be exponentially expanded to the vulnerable age-groups all citizens above 60 years and those within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specified co-morbidities --from March 1.