The Centre on Monday, Wednesday 24, allowed on site registration for vaccination for 18-44 age group at government run Covid vaccination centres. The Centre said the decision was taken based on the representations given by the States and inputs received by Union Health Ministry.
In case of sessions exclusively organised with online slots, towards the end of the day, some doses may still be left unutilized in case the online appointee beneficiaries do not turn up on day of vaccination due to any reason. In such cases, on-site registration of a few beneficiaries may be necessary to minimize the vaccine wastage, an official statement said.
Despite CoWIN providing features such as registration of up to four beneficiaries with a mobile number, facilitated registration and appointments through applications, such as ArogyaSetu and Umang and through the Common Service Centres etc, people requiring facilitated cohort’s facility and those without access to internet or smart phones or mobile phones may still have limited access for vaccination. In such a scenario, the Centre said that on-site registration and appointment is now enabled for 18-44 years age group on CoWIN. This feature will not be available for Private CVCs.
DECISION ON STATES
The usage of the feature rests with the respective States. The States can decide on opening of on-site registrations/facilitated cohorts’ registration and appointments for 18-44 years age group based on the local context just as an additional measure to minimise Covid vaccine wastage and for facilitating vaccination of eligible beneficiaries in the above age group.
The Union Health Ministry also advised the States to issue clear instructions to all District Immunisation Officers to strictly adhere to decision of respective State Government regarding the extent and manner of using the on-site registration and appointment feature for 18 to 44 years age group.
EXTRA CARE
Fully reserved sessions can also be organized for providing vaccination services to the beneficiaries belonging to facilitated cohorts, the Centre said. “Wherever such fully reserved sessions are organized, all efforts must also be made to mobilize such beneficiaries in sufficient numbers,” they said.
Union Health Ministry has further advised that abundant caution should be exercised and extreme due care should be taken while opening up of on-site registration and appointment for 18-44 years age group, in order to avoid overcrowding at vaccination centres.
