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Covid-19 vaccination: Centre enables on-site registration for beneficiaries of 18-44 age group on CoWIN
However, the facility to register at the site is restricted to only government vaccination centres, for now.
The Centre on Monday opened on-site registration and appointment for Covid-19 vaccination for beneficiaries between the age of 18 to 44 years on its CoWIN platform, the ministry of health and family welfare said in a release. Earlier, only online registration was allowed to avoid crowding at the vaccination centres.
However, the facility to register at the site is restricted to only government vaccination centres, for now. "Private Covid vaccination centres will have to publish their vaccination schedules exclusively with slots for online appointments," it stated.
The ministry also said that that the action has been taken in order to minimise vaccine wastage as some doses may be left unutilised in case the online appointee beneficiaries do not turn up on the day of vaccination due to any reason. "In such cases, on-site registration of a few beneficiaries may be necessary to minimise the vaccine wastage," it stated.
The move also aims to expand the inoculation drive to people eligible for the vaccine shot but may not have access to the internet or mobile phones to book the appointment through CoWIN, the official portal created by the Centre to book vaccination slots at both government-run and private hospitals.
People in priority groups are already allowed to register at the vaccination centre to receive the jab.
The central government opened the immunisation drive for all above 18 on May 1 in the third phase. In previous phase, people above 45, and with comorbidity were allowed to receive the shot.
India rolled out the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16. However, it hit a roadblock to maintain its pace in the past couple of months owing to shortages of vaccines and beneficiaries across the country facing difficulty in finding slots on the CoWIN.
The government is currently using Covishield, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech's indigenously manufactured Covaxin for vaccinating the people of the country.
