As Covid Vaccination Drive Starts Today: Here's How To Find Centres Closest To You, How To Apply

From today, India will start its next phase of Covid-19 vaccination, to immunise senior citizens and people with co-morbidities in the age bracket of 45-59 years.

While walk-in vaccination will begin in many states today. People can begin registering on the upgraded version of the app CoWIN from March 1, although they may experience traffic and delay on the portal, as lakhs would attempt to register themselves.

People belonging to the above-mentioned categories can register themselves for the jab through the government’s Co-WIN portal (www.cowin.gov.in) from 9 am on March 1, officials said.  

If you are worried about the vaccination sites near you, here’s the list, along with details about who is eligible and how to register.

How to register?

All you need to do is – Download CoWIN from the app store or visit cowin.gov.in. One has to feed a mobile number or Aadhar number or any other government identification number to register. After that, all the available vaccination centres in the vicinity will be displayed. The Co-WIN 2.0 app is GPS-integrated, it will display nearby centres based on a person’s mobile location. A person can choose a centre and a time slot as per convenience.

You can also walk into a vaccination centre without registration, however, if the limit for the day is over, the centre can ask you to return the next day. Vaccination centres have been directed to reserve 40 per cent doses for pre-registered recipients and 60 per cent for walk-ins. This may differ from centre to centre.

Vaccination cost?

Government hospitals will provide the free vaccine, while in private hospitals, a recipient has to pay a maximum of Rs 250 per dose. For two doses, that comes to Rs 500.

At present, from the private sector, only hospitals empanelled under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) and Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) have permission to participate, but many states have urged the government to allow charitable hospitals to join the vaccination drive.

Till Sunday morning, CoWIN has registered 1.7 crore beneficiaries and immunised 1.1 crores. On February, 26, 14,879 adverse events following immunisation were recorded and 151 of them were severe. The portal has recorded the deaths of 40 people so far following vaccination.

Eligibility

Those who turn 60 before or by January 1, 2022, will be eligible for vaccination. People aged above 60 years only need age proof to get a vaccine shot. They can either register on the app or follow the steps to select a slot, or walk into a centre with age proof and get their shot.

After they will select the centre and a time slot, the hospital will not tell them which vaccine they have – Covishield or Covaxin.  They will be informed only at the centre. You cannot change the centre after registering.

For those aged 45-59 years, apart from age proof, medical documents will be required as proof of co-morbidities.

List of included comorbidities

• HIV infection/ immunodeficiency disease
• Severe respiratory disease including hospitalisation in the last two years
• Heart failure with hospitalisation in last one year
• Those with left ventricular assist device in end-stage heart disease
• Congenital heart disease with pulmonary arterial hypertension
• Coronary artery disease with hypertension or diabetes (on treatment)
• Angina (chest pain) with hypertension or diabetes (on treatment)
• Documented stroke case with hypertension or diabetes (on treatment)

• Those who have undergone heart transplant/ kidney transplant/liver transplant/ haematopoietic stem cell transplant
• Diabetes (for more than 10 years or with complications) and hypertension (must be presently on treatment)
• Left ventricular systolic dysfunction, moderate or severe valvular heart disease
• End-stage kidney disease on dialysis
• Those on immunosuppressants
• Decomposed cirrhosis
• Leukemia / myeloma/ lymphoma
• Sickle cell disease/ thalassemia/ aplastic anemia/ bone marrow failure