More than 2,77,008 teenagers between 15 and 18 registered on the CoWIN platform on Saturday, when enrolling opened for vaccination of this set.
While some had a smooth registration experience, many reported technical glitches. They can also opt for onsite registration, which begins from January 3. Sources said many States are considering vaccination camps in schools to administer the two doses of Covaxin with a gap of 28 days.
Tech snags
Many shared their mixed experience in registering on CoWIN on social media, though most appear to have succeeded in registering via the portal. Others Many complained of issues with via the Aarogya Setu app. “I was able to register in the morning but couldn’t find the venue details. Later, in the evening, when I tried again, it was smooth. I got the centre, date and time,” 15-year-old Vidhi Sinha of Delhi told BusinessLine.
However, Meerut’s Nipun Goel (16) could not even login to CoWIN through the Aarogya Setu app. Later, when he got through, he didn’t get the OTP to process the registration. The Health Ministry had recently said that States can designate some Covid Vaccination Centres for the 15-18 age group; this can reflect on CoWIN. It also suggested to the States to form two vaccination teams at CVCs, one for the 15-18 groups and other for all adults. Meanwhile, the Ministry clarified that the Co-WIN website is working fine and partner applications like Aarogya Setu have to configure their systems.
Enough doses of Covaxin
According to Health Ministry sources, enough doses of Covaxin are available to administer to the 15-18 set. There are nearly 7 crore children in this age group and the government has 5 crore doses on hand.
“We have enough doses of Covaxin. There are about 7 crore children in this age group and we have nearly 5 crore shots. In addition to this, the monthly production of Covaxin is more than 5 crore,” a top Health Ministry source said. He added that as it would take 3-4 months to vaccinate all the teens, there is no issue of availability.
As of now, only Covaxin has been approved for vaccination of children. According to government sources, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov D vaccine will be assessed first on adults before allowing it for children.