Vaccination / On-site registration for vaccination in govt centres enabled for 18-44 age group on CoWin

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday enabled on-site registration and appointment for those in the age group of 18-44 years on the CoWin platform for Covid-19 vaccine at government-run vaccination centres to "minimise vaccine wastage". “This feature will not be available for Private CVCs (Covid Vaccination Centres), presently and the Private CVCs will have to publish their vaccination schedules exclusively with slots for online appointments,” the Union ministry of health and family welfare said in a release.

“This feature will be used only upon decision of the respective State/UT Government to do so. State/UT must decide on opening of on-site registrations/facilitated cohorts’ registration and appointments for 18-44 years age group based on the local context just as an additional measure to minimize vaccine wastage and for facilitating vaccination of eligible beneficiaries in the age group 18-44 years,” the health ministry added.

The ministry said the facility of only online appointment mode initially to people in the age group of 18 to 44 years helped to avoid overcrowding at vaccination centres. The Centre expanded its massive vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18 to 44 years on May 1.

“In case of sessions exclusively organized with online slots, towards the end of the day, some doses may still be left unutilized in case the online appointee beneficiaries do not turn up on day of vaccination due to any reason. In such cases, on-site registration of a few beneficiaries may be necessary to minimize the vaccine wastage,” the health ministry said. It added that even though CoWin provides for registration of up to four members with a mobile number, facilitated registration and appointments through applications such as Aarogya Setu and Umang and through the Common Service Centres etc, people need “facilitated cohort’s facility and those without access to internet or smart phones or mobile phones may still have limited access for vaccination.”

The Union health ministry has advised states and Union territories to issue clear instructions to all district immunisation officers to strictly adhere to decision of respective state and UT government “regarding the extent and manner of using the on-site registration and appointment feature for 18 to 44 years age group”. “Fully reserved sessions can also be organised for providing vaccination services to beneficiaries belonging to facilitated cohorts. Wherever such fully reserved sessions are organized, all efforts must also be made to mobilize such beneficiaries in sufficient numbers,” the ministry said.

The ministry also advised states and UTs that “abundant caution should be exercised and extreme due care should be taken while opening up of on-site registration and appointment for 18-44 years age group, in order to avoid overcrowding at vaccination centres”, the statement said.

According to the health ministry, the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses for the 18-44 age group under the third phase of the vaccination drive crossed 10 million on Monday. It added that the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses exceeded 196 million on Monday.