Sign up from 9am today for vax at 136 pvt, 56 govt hosps in city

Sign up from 9am today for vax at 136 pvt, 56 govt hosps in city

Jabs To Be Given 6 Days A Week To ‘Priority’ Popn

Sushmi Dey & Sidhartha Roy | TNN

New Delhi: 01.03.2021 

India is set to enter the second phase of Covid-19 vaccinations on Monday, when registrations will open at 9am for senior citizens (60 years and above) and those aged 45 to 60 years with comorbidities. The expansion of the vaccine drive aims to cover a total of 30 crore “priority” population at a crucial juncture when several states are witnessing an upswing in cases.

For getting the shot, eligible people will have to register on the Co-Win 2.0 portal (www.cowin.gov.in) or through other IT applications.

There are over 21 lakh senior citizens in Delhi, apart from those 45 and above suffering from one of 20 specified comorbidities. These beneficiaries can choose a vaccination centre at one of the 136 designated private hospitals, where they’ll get the vaccine at Rs 250 per dose, including Rs 150 as cost of the vaccine and up to Rs 100 as operational charges. They also have the option of getting a shot free of cost at 56 government hospitals.

Vaccinations will be done six days a week at these centres. The details are available at Delhi government’s website www.dshm.delhi.gov.in.

So far, around 1.42 crore doses have been given to health and frontline workers across the country since the first phase began on January 16.

Covid count at 9-month low, weekly cases up

India reported the fewest number of Covid-19 cases in February since May last year but infections continued to surge for the second straight week, with the last seven days seeing a surge of more than 19% in fresh cases and nearly 18% rise in deaths from the virus. The death toll in the month of February, at 2,767, was the lowest since April last year. P 7

D-Day: Here’s what over 21 lakh senior citizens in line for C-vax should know

These include around 3.7 lakh beneficiaries in Delhi.

The senior citizen beneficiaries in Delhi include 12.2 lakh people in 60-69 age group, 6.7 lakh people in the 70-79 age group and more than 2.3 lakh beneficiaries who are aged 80 years or above, according to the latest electoral rolls.

The option of self-registration, along with a large number of session sites, and the fear of another surge in infections, are all expected to result in people being more willing to take the shots now than they would have been a few weeks ago. Besides, many Cabinet ministers, chief ministers and PM Narendra Modi himself are likely to take the vaccine during this phase, which is expected to give a boost to the drive.

All beneficiaries are advised to carry their Aadhar card, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or the photo ID card specified at the time of registration, when they visit a centre for vaccination. Those in the 45-59-year age group will also have to carry a certificate of co-morbidity signed by a registered medical practitioner. The list of 20 specified comorbidities is available at www.dshm.delhi.gov.in.

“Apart from self-registration, district authorities will also help beneficiaries, particularly senior citizens who might not be tech-savvy enough to complete the registration process. Apart from mobilising health workers to reach out to such beneficiaries, district authorities are also roping in RWAs to inform people and create awareness,” said a senior Delhi government official.

Across the country, around 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY and 687 private hospitals under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) will be utilised for vaccinations. Besides, states governments can utilise private hospitals empanelled under state health insurance schemes and other programmes. Apart from this, vaccination will also happen at 10,000 government hospitals. Many of the large hospitals will hold multiple sessions for vaccination.

There will be only one live appointment for a beneficiary at any point of time for each dose. Individuals will be able to register on the COWIN portal through mobile numbers. With one mobile number, a person can register as many as four beneficiaries. However, all those registered on one mobile number will have nothing in common except the mobile number. The ID card number for each such beneficiary must be different.

Appointments for any date for a Covid vaccination centre (CVC) will be closed at 3 pm on that day for which the slots were opened. For example, for March 1, the slots will be open from 9am till 3pm on the same day and the appointments can be booked any time before that, depending on availability of slots. However, on March 1, appointment can also be booked for any future date for which vaccination slots are available. A slot for the second dose will also be booked at the same CVC after 28 days have lapsed from the day of the first dose.

However, beneficiaries can make changes or cancel their appointments till the vaccination is done. The beneficiary will have the option to change the slot for second dose from the 29th day to the 42nd day of the first dose. If a beneficiary cancels a firstdose appointment, then appointment of both doses will be cancelled, health ministry said in a guidance note.

The specific vaccine to be given will not be disclosed at the time of appointment, even though a particular CVC will stock only one type of vaccine.

So far, India has granted emergency use authorization to two vaccines – Oxford University and AstraZeneca developed Covishield, manufactured here by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.