Only Online Registration For People Aged 18 To 45 Yrs, Centre Guides States Ahead Of Phase 3 Covid Vaccination Drive

Decisions about direct procurement of vaccines have to be prioritised by the State, UT government. They have also been asked to publicise the "only online registration" provision for the recently added age group of 18 to 45 years. 

Representative Photo

New Delhi: Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday for guiding the States and Union Territories on effective implementation of the Phase-3 of vaccination strategy put forth by the central government to tackle the Coronavirus second wave.

Everyone above the age of 18 years has been made eligible to take Covid-19 Vaccine. The new phase of inoculation drive will begin from May 1, the centre announced on Monday unveiling the third phase of India's Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Dr RS Sharma, Empowered Group Chairman on Vaccine Administration, stated that the CoWIN platform has now stabilized and is working at scale flawlessly.

The platform can handle the complexities of the new vaccination phase starting from May 1. The importance of uploading correct and timely data by States/UTs was highlighted stating that any incorrect data would compromise the integrity of the entire system.

Decisions about direct procurement of vaccines have to be prioritised by the State, UT government. They have also been asked to publicise the "only online registration" provision for the recently added age group of 18 to 45 years. 

The states have been specifically advised to register additional private Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) in mission mode with the help of private hospitals, hospitals of industrial establishments, industry associations coordinating with designated appropriate authority, the mechanism for applications/requests and their processing and monitoring of pendency of registration.

They also have been advised to monitor the number of hospitals that have accessed the vaccines, declared stocks and prices on COWIN. They are asked to schedule vaccination for eligible beneficiaries to be able to provide adequate information of vaccination slots on COWIN.

A real-time record for available beds is advised to be maintained for the information to be easily accessible for the general public.

Temporary Covid care facilities and makeshift hospitals, including ICU beds, will be set up according to devised plan in coordination with the DRDO and CSIR-CBRI. The States/UTs were guided to coordinate with corporate entities, PSUs, Government departments for their CSR funds to aid in setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary Covid care facilities.

They were also advised to use railway coaches for the management of mild cases. Details about the availability of 3,816 coaches for this purpose, across 16 Zones of Railways have been shared with the states.

(With Agency Inputs)