People with these 20 co-morbidities to be prioritised for next COVID vaccination drive: Govt

Representational Image | Credit: Satej Shinde

People with the presence of one of the 20 co-morbidities, including diabetes and heart failure with hospital admission in the past one year, will be prioritised in the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the government said on Saturday.

The simplified system of certifying people with these co-morbidities within the 45-59 years age group was explained to the States Health Departments.

This comes as India is going to start the vaccination of people above 60 years and individuals above 45 years of age having comorbidities against coronavirus, from March 1.

The co-morbidities which have been prioritised include diabetes, heart failure with hospital admission in the past one year, post-cardiac transplant, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis, a severe respiratory disease with hospitalisation in the last two years, primary immunodeficiency dieases/HIV infection and angina and hypertension/diabetes on treatment.

The simplified one-page certificate to be signed by any registered medical practitioner.

The certificate can either be uploaded on Co-WIN 2.0 by the beneficiary while selfregistering or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the COVID Vaccination Centres (CVC).

The states and UTs were explained the simplified process of registration, which shall be through three routes. The first is advance self-registration under which the beneficiaries will be able to self-register in advance by downloading the CO-Win 2.0 portal and through other IT applications such as Arogya Setu etc.

This will show the government and private hospitals serving as COVID vaccination centres with the date and time of the available schedules. The beneficiary would be able to choose the CVC of his/her choice and book an appointment for vaccination.

Second is on-site registration -- Facility of on-site registration allows those who cannot self-register in advance to walk into the identified COVID vaccination centres and get themselves registered on-site and then vaccinated.

Third, is facilitated cohort registration -- Under this mechanism, the State/UT governments will take a proactive lead. Specific date(s) for COVID vaccination will be decided where target groups of potential beneficiates will be vaccinated.

The State/UT health authorities will ensure that that the target groups are actively mobilised and brought to the vaccination centres. ASHAs, ANMs, Panchayati Raj representatives and Women's Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be utilised for mobilising the target groups.