Covid vaccination drive in India. Government explained, How to get vaccine & Who needs to register and who doesn’t for vaccination

India will soon start a mega vaccination drive against coronavirus infection across the country. The healthcare and frontline workers and those above 50 years old will receive the jab on a priority basis

The healthcare and frontline workers and those above 50 years old will receive the jab on a priority basis. India on Sunday approved the restricted emergency use of two vaccines against novel coronavirus — Covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech.

Following the recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, the state government has started identifying beneficiaries. Nearly 30 crore people will receive the vaccine during the first phase of vaccination.

HOW TO GET COVID-19 VACCINE?

The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system — a digitalised platform — will be used to track enlisted beneficiaries for the vaccination and coronavirus vaccines on a real-time basis. 

Vaccine will not be accessible to the masses now. Once it is open to the public, beneficiaries will have to register and submit ID proof for vaccination. Registration on the Co-Win app will be required for the vaccination. Once the registration is complete, the beneficiary would receive an SMS on their mobile number regarding the due date, venue and time of vaccination.

At the time of registration, documents such as Aadhaar, driving licence, voter ID, PAN card, passport, job card or pension document must be produced. One can also submit Health Insurance Smart Card, MGNREGA card, official IDs issued by MPs, MLAs or MLCs. Passbooks issued by bank or post office and service ID card issued by state or central government and public limited companies would also be accepted.The identity of the beneficiary would be verified before the vaccination.

However, healthcare and frontline workers do not need to register themselves for vaccination. “Healthcare workers and frontline workers would not need to register themselves as a beneficiary as their data is a bulk database that has been populated on the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk manner,” said Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary.

The coronavirus vaccine is voluntary and not mandatory. However, the government has advised people to take the vaccine and complete the entire dosage. If one has comorbidity including diabetes, hypertension, cancer then he or she would be in the high-risk category and must take the vaccine. 

The government has said that two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart must be administered for a beneficiary.