Residents to be graded on basis of age, comorbidities for Covid vaccine shots in Delhi

For vaccination of those below 50 years of age with co-morbidities, database from the door-to-door survey which started from November 20 in all the hot spots and containment zones of Delhi is likely to be considered.

The 42 lakh people, excluding health care and front line workers, who will be eligible for the Covid-19 vaccinations in Delhi in the first phase will be further graded on the basis of age and the number of comorbidities a person has, senior health officials said on Monday.

A health worker holds a syringe during a mock drill and dry run of Covid-19 vaccination at a model Covid-19 vaccination centre in Ansari Road, New Delhi, India. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

With the Central government mulling to launch India’s Covid vaccination drive — the biggest such programme in the world — in a week’s time, state health officials urged people, especially senior citizens and those with co-morbidities not to panic and throng the vaccine centres once they are opened.

“The Co-WIN mobile application is going to go live for everybody in a few days. One thing which the district administrations are being asked to publicise widely is that the government will only select individuals who are less than 50 with co-morbidities and those above 50 for the vaccination. The Co-WIN app will accept registrations with valid documents only if their names show up in the list within the app. Also, there will be an option to register through camps wherein distirct health officials will do the registration after basic verification. Just walking up to a vaccine centre will not work,” said Dr Suneela Garg, who is leading the Capital’s vaccination programme and is the director professor at the department of community medicine in Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi.

She, however, clarified that there will be division even within senior citizens and those having comorbidities.

“Within the third category also there are priorities. For example, if a person is 49 years of age and is diabetic and has hypertension and there is another person of the same age, who is diabetic, then priority will be given to the person with two or more comorbidities. Similarly, in the 50+ category, those who are above 60 years of age and with comorbidities will be given the vaccine shot first. The idea is to bring down Covid fatalities to bare minimum first,” she said.

Senior government officials said database of those above 50 years is being taken from electoral rolls. “Just like before a polling day, voters get SMSes about their polling booth and other details, here also the same process will be followed. The beneficiary will have to wait for the SMS alert from the district after registration, to know the date, time and place of getting the vaccine shot,” said a health official.

For vaccination of those below 50 years of age with co-morbidities, database from the door-to-door survey which started from November 20 in all the hot spots and containment zones of Delhi is likely to be considered.

However, when HT contacted officers of at least five of the 11 districts of Delhi, all of them said there were no clear directions as on Monday evening on which datasets should be considered for compiling the “under-50 list”.

“We have some data of all 11 districts from the multiple surveys conducted during the last seven months. But we don’t know whether that will be used or will some other mechanism will be used,” said one district magistrate.

Another revenue official from the New Delhi district said there is no dedicated or fresh survey being conducted as of now to identify those below 50 with comorbidities.

The last such survey was conducted between November 20 and December 31, when the Delhi government had initiated a massive survey, covering 5.73 million people, to identify those with symptoms of Covid or a history of contact with a Covid patient.

“In all likelihood, it is from this survey that all districts will be asked to compile the final lists of those having comorbidities. But no clear directions have been issued to districts yet. The focus currently is on preparing the lists of health care and front line workers,” said a senior official in the office of the divisional commissioner of Delhi.