As more than 20 days have passed since the government launched the world's largest inoculation drive, many people are still unaware of how to register themselves to take a COVID-19 jab. According to Union Health Ministry, over 54 lakh people in the country have been vaccinated with the two coronavirus vaccines- Covishield and Covaxin, so far. Although the numbers are fairly good, there's still less awareness when it comes to registration for the coronavirus vaccination.
The Centre has created Co-WIN (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) app, a digital platform for real-time monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine delivery and distribution of the vaccines.
The app has five modules, including the registration module where people can register themselves for vaccination. For the registration, a beneficiary must have any of the ID with a photo before registering for the COVID-19 jab.
These IDs include: "Aadhar Card, Driving License, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Job Card, Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs, PAN Card, Passbooks issued by Bank/Post Office, Passport, Pension Document, Service Identity Card with photograph issued to employees by Central/ State government/ PSUs/Public Limited Companies, Voter ID, Smart card issued by RGI under NPR," the ministry noted. However, the photo ID should be produced at the time of registration and verified at the time of vaccination.
Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey informed Lok Sabha on Friday that Aadhaar is not mandatory for registration on Co-WIN portal.
The Union Health Ministry said India has become the first country in the world to reach the 50 lakh COVID-19 vaccination mark in just 21 days. The USA, the UK, and Israel have reached 50-lakh vaccinations in 24, 43 and 45 simultaneous days respectively.
So far, a total of 27 persons have been hospitalised which translates to 0.0005 per cent of the total vaccinations done so far. No new hospitalization has been recorded in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.
The ministry further said a total of 22 deaths have been recorded to date and none of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination.