The Union Government has announced on Friday that the vaccination drive for COVID-19 — currently underway for healthcare workers and frontline workers — would be temporarily halted on Saturday and Sunday due to the software change required for the second phase of the vaccination.
The second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive will begin across the country from March 1 for those aged over 60 years and those over 45 years with co-morbidities.
This pause of two days comes at a time when India has been criticised for its slow vaccination pace. As part of the first stage of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the first jab was issued to health care workers (HCWs) beginning on January 16 and later targeted other frontline workers (FLWs) such as police officers, armed forces, municipal workers, etc.
Nine states/UTs have so far given the first shot to less than 60% of their registered HCWs, and 13 States/UTs have vaccinated less than 40% of registered flows.
Govt to update Co-Win app
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a press release on Friday, “This Saturday and Sunday (27 and 28 February), the Co-Win digital platform will move from Co-Win1.0 to Co-Win 2.0.0.”
Considering this, on these two days, COVID 19 vaccination sessions will not be planned. The States and UTs have already been notified of this move.
Although the drive is scheduled to begin on March 1, final instructions on how to go about the extended drive have yet to be obtained by state governments.
As previously mentioned, private centres will also deliver the COVID-19 vaccine in addition to government-run facilities. Although vaccination will be free in government structures, service in private facilities will be paid for. The price is also yet to be set for the same.
According to preliminary information, beneficiaries have to enrol themselves on the updated versions of the Co-WIN app and those with no access to technology can also walk into designated registration centres in hospitals and other notified Common Service Centres.
