By Online Desk
The Centre will inoculate 30 crore people belonging to priority groups in the first phase of its vaccination drive.
In the initial phase, healthcare and frontline workers will be covered under the vaccination drive. They will be followed by those above 50 and people with comorbidities. The government is in the process of determining the specific clinical criteria under which the people with underlying conditions will be identified for the purpose. In all, 31 hubs had been established to supply vaccines to 29,000 vaccination points in last-mile delivery.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has appealed to people not to be misguided by “rumours” regarding the safety and efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine, and said the most prioritised beneficiaries would be vaccinated for free.
The vaccines would be provided in the first phase of the inoculation drive to the most prioritised beneficiaries, including one crore healthcare and two crore frontline workers.
Here are the Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 vaccination
Who will get the vaccine first and how soon can I have it?
1. Healthcare workers: The vaccine will first be given to around 1 crore healthcare workers in government and private hospitals such as doctors, nurses, medical supervisors, medical officers, paramedical staff, support staff, and medical students.
2. Frontline workers: The next in line are about 2 crore frontline workers in central and state police departments, armed forces, home guard, disaster management, civil defence organisation, jail staff, municipal workers, revenue officials on Covid duty, employees of state governments and Union ministries of defence, home, housing, and urban affairs
3. Population above 50: The third in line are the people above 50. The latest electoral rolls will be used to identify the population under this category for the vaccination drive.
4. People in highly-affected areas: Governments will prioritise groups of people in highly-affected areas as decided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC)
5. The rest: The remaining population will be vaccinated after the people on the priority list are covered. The vaccination here will depend on the disease epidemiology and vaccine availability. To avoid overcrowding at the vaccination session site, the vaccine will be given to the beneficiaries in a staggered manner.
In the first two stages, the government will vaccinate priority groups including frontline workers and emergency workers. People with co-morbidities will get the jab in the third stage. For this, a self-registration process will be required through the Co-WIN app.
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How to register for the vaccine?
The Centre has launched a new mobile app called ‘CoWIN App’ which will let you register for Covid vaccination.
Soon, it will be available to download for free on the Google Play Store and Apple app store.
There are five modules in the app: Administrator module, registration module, vaccination module, beneficiary acknowledgment module, and report module.
The administrator module is for the administrators who will be conducting these vaccination sessions.
The registration module is for people to get registered for vaccination. It will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities or by surveyors.
The vaccination module will verify the beneficiary details and update the vaccination status.
The beneficiary acknowledgment module will send SMS to beneficiaries. It will also generate QR-based certificates after you are vaccinated.
The report module will prepare reports on the number of vaccine sessions, people vaccinated and dropped out cases.
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Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Self-register on the CoWIN website
Upload Aadhaar for authentication or use any photo identity issued by the government
The authentication can happen via biometrics, OTP, or other demographic information
Once registered, you will be allocated a date and time for vaccination
Your district authorities will be the approving authority
They will regulate the session management in CoWIN system and allocate you session and site for vaccination
The CoWIN system will generate QR-based certificates after you are vaccinated
Where will I be vaccinated?
Vaccination will be conducted at three types of sessions sites:
Fixed session site: Government and private health facilities – where either a medical officer or a doctor is available is defined as a fixed session site.
Outreach session site: Sites such as schools and community halls
Special mobile session: For those living in remote, hard-to-reach areas
What will be the process for vaccination at the session site?
The vaccination site will have three rooms:
Waiting room: Wait here for your turn before you get the vaccine
Vaccination room: It’s the place you will be administered the vaccine
Observation room: You will be observed for 30 minutes post-vaccination
