Centre briefs states on ways to register, documents needed by beneficiaries

Days ahead of the scheduled second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, the Central government on Friday held a meeting with states on the rollout where it communicated that registrations will be carried out in three ways for those aged above 50 and those above the age of 45 with associated co-morbidities and that private hospitals may be allowed to charge a user fee of up to Rs 100 from each beneficiary towards infrastructure costs.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration, Dr R S Sharma, chaired the high-level meeting with the health secretaries of states. The second phase of the drive is scheduled to begin March 1 with a focus on citizens above 60 years of age and those within the age bracket of 45-59 years, with specified co-morbidities.

During the meeting, the states were informed that the process of registration for the beneficiaries will be through three routes: advance self-registration, where beneficiaries will be able to register themselves in advance through the CO-Win 2.0 portal and other platforms, including the Arogya Setu app; on-site registration, where beneficiaries can walk into identified Covid Vaccination Centres and register on-site; and facilitated cohort registration.

The Centre also informed states that private hospitals could levy up to Rs 100 as user fees per dose from the recipients.

Private hospitals are allowed to vaccinate the public but they will have to invest in equipment, and arrange for power backup for refrigerators.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said that in the next phase, healthcare and frontline workers who missed out or were left out of the first phase of vaccination can select vaccination centres of their choice.

During Friday’s meeting, the states were given a detailed presentation on the flagship Co-Win 2.0, which beneficiaries can use to register and choose the date and location of the vaccination site.

The states were also informed about the documents beneficiaries will have to carry during the day of vaccination: Aadhaar Card or Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) card for photo identity; or the Photo ID card specified at the time of registration in case of online registration; certificate of co-morbidity for citizens in the age group of 45 years to 59 years, signed by a registered medical practitioner; and employment certificate for health care and frontline workers.

— with Tabassum Barnagarwala in Mumbai