With the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) issuing restricted emergency approval of the Serum Institute of India Covhishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccines for COVID-19, the question on everyone’s mind is how one can get the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, registration for the vaccine is to be done via the COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN), which has not yet been opened for self-registration. For now, priority recipients including healthcare workers are being identified by government officials.
Who can get the COVID-19 vaccine?
Based on the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC) guidelines, priority groups have already been identified, with 30 crore people to receive the vaccine first. These include healthcare and frontline workers, members of the armed forces and police, and those above 50 and those below 50 with co-morbidities.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said free coronavirus vaccines would be given to 1 crore healthcare workers and 2 crore frontline workers.
“COVID-19 vaccine will be offered first to healthcare workers, frontline workers and population above 50 years of age, followed by population below 50 years of age with associated comorbidities based on the evolving pandemic situation, and finally to the remaining population based on the disease epidemiology and vaccine availability. The priority group of above 50 years may be further subdivided into those above 60 years of age and those between 50 to 60 years of age for the phasing of roll out based on pandemic situation and vaccine availability,” read the health ministry’s guidelines.
The latest electoral roll for the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly election will be used to identify the population aged 50 years or more. Details are being finalised on how the 27 crore priority beneficiaries, those above 50 and below 50 with co-morbidities, would be vaccinated.
How will the vaccine process play out?
Health Minister Harsh Varhdan had said 30 crore people would be vaccinated within 6-7 months. Serum Institute of India announced that they already have stocks of over five crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine ‘Covishield’.
As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s guidelines, the COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) will be where data on beneficiaries of the vaccine is to be uploaded. Registration on the portal will be mandatory to receive the vaccine.
Over 75 lakh beneficiaries have already been registered on the platform. However, the CO-WIN app is still in pre-product stage and is not yet available for the public. Only officials can access it at present. Self-registration will be made available at a later date.
“The COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system, a digital platform will be used to track the enlisted beneficiaries for vaccination and COVID-19 vaccines on a real-time basis. At the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated per the prioritization, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registrations,” says the guidelines.
The vaccine process will be “broadly similar to the election process”, with one session for 100 beneficiaries. Healthcare and front-line workers can be vaccinated at fixed session sites that may be government health facilities above PHCs or private health facilities identified by district administration. Vaccination of other high-risk populations may require outreach session sites, and mobile sites/teams; and state and Union Territories can identify specific days for vaccination.
The Co-WIN platform will also help schedule reminders for vaccination appointments. It must be noted that both COVAXIN and Covishield vaccines have to be administered in two doses, the dose schedule of which will be tracked by the Co-WIN platform.
Vaccines will be tracked until the last mile, with batch and manufacturing date present on the Co-WIN system.
What documents are needed for self-registration?
Screenshot of the Co-WIN portal, as released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Self-registration on the Co-WIN website will include providing name, date of birth, permanent and current address, and details of co-morbidities. A photo identify will need to be provided, which can be one of the following:
1. Aadhaar Card;
2. Driving License;
3. Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour;
4. MNREGA Job Card;
5. Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs;
6. AN Card;
7. Passbook issued by Bank/Post Office;
8. Passport;
9. Pension Document;
10. Service Identity Card issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/ Public Limited Companies;
11. Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR
12. Voter ID
If Aadhaar is supplied as the document, which can be uploaded to the website, an additional authentication will be performed through biometric scanning, OTP authentication or demographic authentication.
Four vaccine officials will be part of the process: A Vaccinator Officer, a Vaccination Officer who will check the registration status, another officer who will authenticate the registration, and two support-staff who will handle crowd management and the 30 minute post-vaccination waiting time.
