Now, Walk In For COVID-19 Vaccination; Advance Registration Not Mandatory

New Delhi: Since the COVID-19 vaccination process was rolled out in India on January 16, several centres across the country have seen a low turnout of healthcare workers.

One issue is that of doubts about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines, especially Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The other major factor is certain glitches in the Co-WIN app which has been developed for the vaccination drive.

To deal with the second issue, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has modified the Co-WIN app to allow on-spot beneficiary registration, reported Hindustan Times. This will allow states and Union Territories to accommodate walk-in cases.

“The average vaccination sessions allowed per site are 100, and we were told in some centres fewer people were turning up. We have made a provision in the app to also accommodate beneficiaries scheduled to take the jab on other dates. Earlier, the software wasn’t designed to accept beneficiaries outside the day’s list but now they can,” Dr RS Sharma, chairman, empowered group on COVID-19 vaccination, was quoted as saying.

“It made sense to make changes in the software because a lot of resources otherwise could go to waste, such as, manpower that was there at the centre, vaccine supplies etc. So long as the person who has landed at the session site is eligible to receive the vaccine, even if they are registered for any other day, there should be no problem. Why waste resources and time, since we have to vaccinate a particular number of healthcare workers anyway,” said Sharma.

However, priority will be given to current day beneficiaries, that is, those who had registered beforehand.

“Those who are registered for the day will have to be vaccinated first, and others should be accommodated only if registered beneficiaries do not turn up. Certain conditions are non-negotiable such as eligibility, so that those not eligible don’t jump the line; record the vaccination event real-time, and issuing of vaccination certificate. Everyone who gets vaccinated must be accounted for so that tracking is effectively done,” said Sharma.

On allegations of glitches in the Co-WIN app, Sharma said: “There are minor hiccups, which are normal to have when you put such a large-scale system in production. Dry runs are one part but in real-time, there is always a possibility of encountering issues which may have been missed otherwise. None of what we have seen so far is anything major, in fact, some are even procedural issues that are being rectified.”

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