PremiumRegistrations of next phase of India's Covid-19 vaccination is slated to begin from 1 March and those who are eligible for the jab in this phase can self-register on the government's portal, Co-Win for the same, according to officials.
Apart from that, there will also be a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the session sites, news agency PTI repoerted citing sources.
In the second phase, people above 60 years of age and those over 45 with comorbidities will be inoculated against the Covid-19.
R S Sharma, Chairman of the Empowered Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Administration, said, "Everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at a number of private hospitals."
He also added, "The 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 a nearby session site to get vaccinated."
The new version of the Co-WIN app will be GPS-enabled through which the beneficiaries will be able to choose the inoculation session site both at the government and private facilities.
On the other hand, there will be volunteers to help those opting for walk-in registration with the process if they are not tech-savvy.
"Co-WIN will be able to take registrations and appointments from multiple applications, including Aarogya Setu or any other application such as a common service app," Sharma said.
A beneficiary will just have to register with his mobile number and in turn, will receive an OTP with which his account will be created. One can also get their family members registered on the account.
The second phase of the world's largest vaccination drive will start from Monday, in which anybody above 60 years, that may not be less than 10 crore people in the country, and above 45 years with co-morbidities will be administered the vaccine at 10,000 government medical facilities and over 20,000 private hospitals, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.
"Whoever goes to a government centre will be administered the vaccine free of cost. The Indian government will pay for them. The government will purchase the necessary doses and send them to all the states," he said.
Those who want to get vaccinated at private hospitals will have to pay and the amount will be decided by the health ministry within the next three-four days as it is in discussions with the vaccine manufacturers as well as the hospitals, Javadekar said.
Asked if people would have a choice as regards which vaccine -- Covishield or Covaxin -- they want to take, the minister said the country is proud to have two vaccines, both of which are effective with proven efficacy.
While Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune, Covaxin is being produced by Bharat Biotech.
