With the next stage of the COVID-19 vaccination drive set to begin on March 1, the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments are gearing up to vaccinate eligible beneficiaries above 60 years of age, and above 45 with comorbidities. According to official estimates, around 60 lakh people in Telangana and 90 lakh people in Andhra Pradesh will be eligible to receive the vaccine in this phase.
Minister of Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar announced on Thursday that around 27 crore people across the country will be vaccinated in this stage, of whom around 10 crore people are over 60. In Telangana, registration process for eligible beneficiaries will begin whenever the Union government opens up the Co-Win software, Director of Public Health and Family Welfare Dr G Srinivasa Rao told TNM. The Union government on Friday announced that in order to make changes in the Co-Win software necessary for the next phase of vaccination, the ongoing vaccination drive for healthcare and frontline workers will be temporarily halted for two days on Saturday and Sunday.
However, in Telangana, on-site registration will be given preference, where health department staff will help eligible beneficiaries to register for the vaccine after arriving at the vaccine centre, Dr G Srinivasa Rao said. “Whenever the Centre opens up the CoWin software and it goes live, the registration process will start in Telangana. In Telangana, we are preferring on-site registration. We will have our people on-site who will register (the beneficiaries),” he said. He also added that while the maximum number of persons to be vaccinated at each centre in a day is yet to be finalised, the target will be to vaccinate around 100 people in small hospitals and around 200 people at bigger hospitals.
“We have shortlisted around 232 private hospitals and around 1,000 government hospitals in the state, which means around 1,200 facilities will be there across the state,” Dr G Srinivasa Rao said. According to guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health, beneficiaries are required to produce a photo ID at the time of registration and at the vaccine session site for verification. “Those who are coming to the facility for vaccination can walk in with any one of the several IDs mentioned, including Aadhaar, Voter ID card, PAN card etc.” he added. Other valid documents include driving license, passport, MNREGA job card, and smart card issued by the Registrar General of India (RGI) under National Population Register (NPR).
Those with comorbidities need to carry a certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner, Dr G Srinivasa Rao said. While the list of comorbidities is yet to be released, reports indicate that apart from chronic heart and lung diseases, cancer, asthma, diabetes, morbid obesity and bone marrow or stem cell transplants are likely to feature on the list.
In Andhra Pradesh on the other hand, the exact procedure is yet to be finalised. A highly placed official in the Health Department told TNM that once the exact procedure is fixed by the Union government, the same guidelines will be followed by the Andhra Pradesh government.
The vaccine will be provided for free at government-run vaccination centres. While private hospitals will charge a feee, the amount will be decided by the Union Ministry of Health soon.
While beneficiaries will have the option of choosing the date, time and location of the vaccination centre based on availability, they do not have a choice between Covishield and Covaxin.