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The COVID-19 vaccination sessions will not be held this Saturday and Sunday in view of the Co-Win digital platform transitioning from Co-Win 1.0 to Co-Win 2.0 as India gears up to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 years with co-morbidities against the infection from March 1.
All states and Union Territories have been already informed about this transition, the Union health ministry said.
The Co-Win software was created for real-time monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine delivery.
The nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive to vaccinate healthcare workers was launched on January 16 by the prime minister. Vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.
"The country wide vaccination exercise is being exponentially expanded to include those above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with co-morbidities, from March 1.
"On this Saturday and Sunday (Feb 27 and 28), the Co-Win digital platform will be transitioning from Co-Win 1.0 to Co-Win 2.0. In view of this, COVID-19 vaccination sessions will not be scheduled during these two days. The states and UTs have been already informed about this transition," the ministry said.
According to official sources eligible beneficiaries would be able to register themselves on the Co-Win platform from Monday itself after the transition.
There will also be a walk-in provision for beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the session site itself to get vaccinated.
Everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with co-morbidities will be able to get COVID-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals, the government said on Wednesday.
"Eligible beneficiaries would be able to register themselves on the Co-Win platform from March 1 itself.There will also be a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated," said R S Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Administration.
He said the new version of the Co-Win platform will be GPS enabled and beneficiaries will have the option to choose the inoculation session sites both at the government and private facilities. For those who would walk in, there will be volunteers to help those who are not tech-savvy to get registered.
One will also have the option to get inoculated in a state different from the one he or she is a resident of.
People aged above 45 will have to upload and provide a medical certificate mentioning their comorbid conditions. The government is yet to specify the conditions which be included in the over-45 age group with co-morbidities.
"The Co-Win will be able to take registrations and appointments from multiple applications including Arogya Setu or any other application such as a common service app," Sharma said.
One will just have to register in with the mobile number and receive an OTP with which his or her account will be created. One can get their family members also registered on the account.
The second phase of the world's largest vaccination drive will start from Monday in which anybody above 60 years, that may not be less than 10 crore people in the country, and 45 years plus with co-morbidities will be given vaccines in 10,000 government medical facilities and also over 20,000 private hospitals, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.
"Whoever goes to the government centre will be administered vaccine free of cost. Indian government will pay for them. The government will purchase the necessary doses and will send them to all the states," Javadekar said.
Those who want to get vaccination from private hospitals will have to pay, but the amount will be decided by the health ministry within the next three-four days as they are in discussions with manufacturers as well as hospitals, he said.