Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Bharat Biotech International CMD Krishna Ella in a statement expressed his sincere gratitude to the PM for reposing his trust in the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine, COVAXIN
News LATEST News and Updates: Bharat Biotech International CMD Krishna Ella in a statement expressed his sincere gratitude to the PM for reposing his trust in the indigenously developed vaccine, COVAXIN
Reassuring that the Co-WIN portal is functioning without any issues, the Union Health Minister said that there are many people who can't access or face difficulties in the booking. "All these systems will be streamlined within one week," he said
RS Sharma, Head of the Empowered Panel on vaccinations, also clarified that the registration for the vaccine is taking place only through the Aarogya Setu app and Co-WIN portal - cowin.gov.in
Union Home Minister Amit Shah takes first dose of vaccine, reports news agency PTI quoting officials. According to ANI, Shah was vaccinated by Medanta Hospital doctors.
The personal example set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in taking the first dose of vaccine would give a huge boost to the immunization campaign against the pandemic,said Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Bharat Biotech.
Protesting farmer leaders in the vulnerable age group Monday said they are not afraid of and won't take vaccine jabs, reports news agency PTI.
80-year-old Farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha which is spearheading the agitation, said he will not go to vaccination centres to receive the jabs. Another senior leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan (75) said the fear of contracting the disease is "not enough" to distract them from their fight.
Over one million citizens have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal till 1 pm on Monday, said the Union Health Ministry.
Amid reports of glitches in the CoWIN system, the Centre earlier clarified that registration was to be done through the web portal and the app was only for administrators
"It is wrong," said the health ministry clarifying on earlier reports that SC judges will be given their choice of vaccine. The ministry said that vaccination will happen through the CoWin system.
Family members of the judges will also receive the vaccine and retired SC judges and their family members also to be included in the vaccination drive tomorrow.
Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have shown a surge in new cases, contributing to 87.25 percent of 15,510 fresh infections reported in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. Maharashtra alone accounts for 46.39 percent of India's total active cases, followed by Kerala with 29.49 percent.
Meanwhile, in the second phase of the country's vaccination drive, political leaders including Union minister Jitendra Singh, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and NCP chief Sharad Pawar received the first doses of the vaccine.
Union health Harsh Vardhan said there have been no deaths due to vaccinations so far and claimed that hospitalizations due to vaccination were negligible. "The side effects are minimal like swelling or fever. This sometimes happens during normal vaccination too," he told news agency ANI.
Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan said by taking Covaxin, the prime minister has given a clear message to the country. Vardhan "He took COVAXIN, against which a lot of misinformation was spread even when it was scientifically perfect", news agency ANI quotes him as saying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to take the first dose of vaccine on the very first day of India opening up the inoculation drive for senior citizens and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities should eliminate any hesitancy from the minds of people about the vaccine, said AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the vaccine will be made available for free, even in the private hospitals of the state.
The vaccination process at Nagpur's Indira Gandhi Hospital couldn't begin due to a technical glitch in the Co-WIN portal.
The next phase of the vaccination drive for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities will begin from 1 March (tomorrow) and registration on the Co-WIN 2.0 portal will open at 9 am on Monday.
Citizens will be able to register and book an appointment for vaccination, anytime and anywhere, using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal or through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu.
Registration will open at 9 am on 1 March at www.cowin.gov.in, the ministry said.
All citizens that are aged, or will attain the age of 60 or more as of 1 January, 2022 are eligible to register, in addition to all such citizens that are aged, or will attain the age of 45 to 59 years as of 1 January, 2022, and have any of the specified 20 comorbidities.
This information was shared during the orientation workshop organised by the Union Health Ministry and the National Health Authority (NHA) for the 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, more than 600 hospitals empanelled under CGHS and other private hospitals empanelled under State Government's Health Insurance Schemes, on Co-WIN 2.0.
The health ministry also released a user manual for citizen registration and appointment for vaccination.
The modalities of the new features integrated into the Co-WIN 2.0 digital platform were explained to them.
The private empanelled Vaccination Centres (CVCs) were also trained on various aspects of the process of vaccination and management of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) through video conference with the support of the National Health Authority (NHA).
"There will be only one live appointment for a beneficiary at any point of time for each dose.
"Appointments for any date for a COVID Vaccination Center will be closed at 3 pm on that day for which the slots were opened," the ministry said.
For example, for 1 March the slots will be open from 9 am till 3 pm and the appointments can be booked anytime before that, subject to availability.
However, on 1 March, an appointment can also be booked for any future date for which vaccination slots are available. A slot for the second dose will also be booked at the same COVID Vaccination Centre on the 29th day of the date of appointment of the 1st dose.
If a beneficiary cancels a first dose appointment, then the appointment of both doses will be cancelled, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, there will be a facility of on-site registration so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and inoculated.
The eligible persons will be able to register at the Co-WIN 2.0 portal through their mobile number, through a step by step process.
With one mobile number, a person can register as many as four beneficiaries. However, all those registered on one mobile number will have nothing in common except the mobile number, the ministry said.
The photo ID card number for each such beneficiary must be different. Either of the following photo identity documents can be used by citizens for availing of online registration -- Aadhaar Card/Letter, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), passport, driving license, PAN Card, NPR Smart Card or Pension Document with the photograph.
A user guide for the citizen registration and appointment for vaccination has also been uploaded on the websites of the Union Ministry of Health and National Health Authority (NHA).
It was also explained that the central government shall procure all the vaccines and supply them free of cost to the states and UTs who in turn will disburse them further to the government and private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs), the ministry said.
It was re-iterated that all vaccines provided to beneficiaries at the government health facilities will be entirely free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above Rs 250 per person per dose (Rs 150 for vaccines and Rs 100 as operational charges).
Private hospitals will have to remit the cost of vaccine doses allotted to them in a designated account of the National Health Authority (NHA). The payment gateway for the same is being enabled by the NHA on their website, the ministry said.
The government of India has supplied two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, free of cost to the states and UTs to vaccinate healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) and they will also be able to cover the next priority group i.e. 60 years plus age group and the age group of 45 to 59 years suffering from pre-specified co-morbidities.
The states have been requested to operationalise the linkages between the CVCs (both government and private empanelled facilities) with the nearest cold chain points for ensuring smooth vaccine delivery to (CVCs).
The ministry specified 20 co-morbidities within the 45-59 years age group including heart failure with hospital admission in past one year, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease, CT/ MRI documented stroke, diabetes ( >10 years or with complications) and hypertension on treatment, end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis, diagnosis of any solid cancer on or after 2000 or currently on any cancer therapy for which one will have to submit a medical certificate.
The ministry has shared the format of the simplified one-page certificate to be signed by any registered medical practitioner.
The certificate can either be uploaded on Co-WIN 2.0 by the beneficiary while self-registering or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the CVC, the ministry said.
With inputs from PTI
