The government on Wednesday announced that it is all set to begin the next phase of covid vaccination from March 1. Everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine, revealed Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar. At a media briefing, Javadekar answered all questions about the second phase of vaccination while there is still confusion among the citizens about who qualifies to get the vaccine shots.
Cost of Vaccination of Senior Citizens
"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. Whoever goes to the government center will be administered the vaccine free of cost. The 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 the 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.
Covishield or COVAXIN?
Asked if people will have a choice on which vaccine -- SII’s Covishield or Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin -- they want to take, Javadekar said India is proud to have two vaccines that are both effective with proven efficacy. Javadekar said the world's largest vaccination started on January 16 with 1,07,67,000 people vaccinated and 14 lakh also having received a second dose.
Javadekar asserted that the vaccination in India has been successful, "faultless with hardly any complaints".
How to register for Covid Vaccination?
The vaccination at around 10,000 government facilities is free of cost while the government is yet to announce the price at private facilities. For registration, the recipient has to download the Co-win app 2.0 and register.
Documents required for registration
The recipient will either require an Aadhaar card or an election ID card. Once downloaded the app and registered, it will fetch the data from either of these two sources.
Side Effects of Covid Vaccine
The Covid vaccine has been majorly successful and the government has been encouraging more and more people to get the vaccine shot. However, there can be mild side effects. The health ministry revealed that the side effects can include nausea, headache, fatigue, malaise (weakness), arthralgia, chills, myalgia (pain in muscles), pyrexia and injection site tenderness.
Meanwhile, not just the general public but Bollywood celebrities are also seeking more details about the second phase of Covid vaccination for senior citizens. Actress Sonam Kapoor on Thursday took to Twitter to ask fans about the same. She tweeted, "Can anyone tell me.. I’m getting different information from everyone." She asked her fans, "Can anyone explain to me how can our grandparents or parents get vaccinated in India and when is it available? I'm very confused? Hearing different things from everyone. I'd really like for them to get it."
