The nationwide COVID-19 Vaccination phase to cover senior citizens and people above 45 years with co-morbidities will begin today. The registration for vaccination will open at 9 this morning at www.cowin.gov.in. Citizens will be able to register and book and appointment for vaccination, anytime and anywhere, using the COWIN 2.0 portal or through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu. The vaccine will be administered free of cost at ten thousand government hospitals to these groups while the cost of the vaccine at around 20 thousand private Vaccination Centres will be borne by the people. Private Hospitals can charge up to 250 rupees per dose of COVID-19 vaccine during the Vaccination Drive.

Union Health Ministry has said, the States has been given freedom to use all private hospitals empanelled under State Government Health Insurance Schemes as COVID Vaccination Centres. The states can also use health facilities of all PSUs and all government health facilities as COVID Vaccination Centres.

The States and UTs were already explained about the simplified process of registration through three routes. The first is advance self-registration under which the beneficiaries will be able to self-register by downloading the CO-Win 2.0 portal and through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu. This will show the government and private hospitals serving as COVID vaccination centres with the date and time of the available schedules. The beneficiary would be able to choose the Covid Vaccination Centres of his or her choice and book an appointment for vaccination. There will be only one live appointment for a beneficiary at any point of time for each dose. Appointments for any date for a COVID Vaccination Center will be closed at 3 PM on that day for which the slots were opened.
 
The second is on-site registration which allows those who cannot self-register in advance to walk into the identified COVID vaccination centres and get themselves registered on-site and then vaccinated. The third process is facilitated cohort registration under which the State and UT governments will take a proactive lead and specific date for COVID vaccination will be decided where target groups of potential beneficiaries will be vaccinated.
 
The Ministry has also explained to the States that the private hospitals functioning as COVID Vaccination Centres can charge subject to a ceiling of 250 rupees per person per dose along with the electronic and financial management mechanism. Health Ministry has asked all such private health facilities to follow strict norms of due process, quality and safety including integration with the National Co-Win technology platform. All private health facilities must also have adequate space, cold chain arrangements, number of vaccinators and support staff as well as adequate arrangements for addressing Adverse Event Following Immunization.
 
States have been apprised of the simplified system of certifying people with 20 co-morbidities within the 45 to 59 years age group. The simplified one page certificate will be signed by any registered medical practitioner. The certificate can either be uploaded on Co-WIN 2.0 by the beneficiary while self registering or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the Covid Vaccination Centres. AIR correspondent reports, the eligible persons will be able to register at the Co-WIN2.0 portal through their mobile number. The user can login at the portal with OTP from their registered mobile number.
 
With one mobile number, a person can register as many as four beneficiaries. To avail online registration, the citizens can use photo identity documents like Aadhar Card, Electoral Photo Identity Card, Passport, Driving License, PAN Card, NPR Smart Card and Pension Document with photograph. The citizens can schedules themselves to the available time-slots for vaccination at near by Covid Vaccination center. Citizen can download the confirmation of the appointment and it will be also shared through SMS on their registered mobile number.
 
The government has identified 20 specified Comorbidities that will prioritized the individuals for the COVID-19 vaccination. They include Heart failure with hospital admission in past one year, Post Cardiac transplant, Kidney and Liver transplant recipient or on wait-list, Leukaemia, lymphoma, HIV infection, Diabetes and Hypertension on treatment and Severe respiratory disease with hospitalization in the last two years.
 
With a view to strengthen  the COVID vaccination capacity significantly, large number of private facilities is being involved in this vaccination drive. Around ten thousand private hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, 687 hospitals empanelled under CGHS and other private hospitals empanelled under State Government Health Insurance Schemes can participate as COVID Vaccination Centers.