India’s Cumulative Vaccination Coverage exceeds 13.83 Crores. More than 29 Lakh Vaccine Doses administered in the last 24 hours; Over 2.19 Lakh Recoveries in the last 24 hours. Case Fatality Rate further slides to 1.14%, according to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India. As the coronavirus cases are on a surge, here is everything you need to know about its vaccination drive in India.
Vaccines available in India:
Currently, there are two COVID-19 vaccines available in India, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s CoviShield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Both of these vaccines have been granted emergency use authorization by the Central Drugs Control Standards Organization (CDSCO).
- Covisheild
- Developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca, this vaccine’s Indian trials and production is being done by the Pune based Serum Institute of India, one of the largest vaccine makers in the world.
- It is a Viral Vector-based Technology that is also used to manufacture Ebola vaccines.
- The time interval between two doses of the Covishield vaccine has been extended from four-six weeks to four-eight weeks.
- Covaxin
- Developed and produced by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech.
- This is a Whole-virion Inactivated Coronavirus Vaccine that is also used to manufacture vaccines like Influenza, Rabies and Hepatitis- A.
- The second dose of Covaxin can be taken four to six weeks after the first.
How much will the vaccines cost during the 3rd phase of vaccination?
Currently, the vaccines are being procured by the central government from the manufacturers, and then it will be distributed to states, according to the requirements. However, starting May 1st, states have been given the liberty to procure the vaccines directly from the manufacturers as per their requirements.
The price of vaccines per dose has also been announced by the Serum Institute of India for Covishield, during the 3rd phase of vaccination. The vaccine will be available at ₹400 to states and ₹600 to private hospitals, per dose. In central government hospitals, vaccination will still remain free for everyone, while in state government and private hospitals, people will have to pay for their vaccine doses, depending on the open market price of the vaccines.
The other vaccine maker of the country – Bharat Biotech hasn’t announced Covaxin’s price yet.
Which states have announced free vaccination from 1st May?
As of now, State governments of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Kerala have announced free vaccination for all of their population above 18 years of age, starting May 1st. Goa has also said that it’ll also be vaccinating it’s population aged between 18-45 years, free of cost. Further, all residents of Sikkim aged between 18-45 years will also be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease for free.
Steps to register for people aged between 18-44, starting April 28th:
- Visit the official website of CoWIN registration platform – cowin.gov.in
2. Click on ‘register/sign-in’
3. Enter your particulars like aadhar no or mobile number, following which you’ll receive an OTP.
4. Enter the OTP in the space provided.
5. Once registered, schedule your appointment from available date and time slots.
After you receive the vaccine jab, you’ll be getting a reference ID on your registered mobile number, through which you may get your vaccination certificate.
Points to note:
- There’s no choice provided by the government till now between the vaccines, so the beneficiaries cannot choose which vaccine they want themselves to get inoculated with.
- Vaccination appointments can be booked only through cowin.gov.in website or aarogya setu app. The CoWin app available on Google playstore is only for administrators, not beneficiaries.
- Each citizen must carry any one of the government authorised identity proofs like aadhar card, pan card, driving licence etc, to the vaccination center.
- For vaccinations starting from May 1st, walk-in registrations won’t be allowed, which means that one must register through the CoWIN portal in advance in order to get vaccinated, if he/she falls in the age bracket 18-44.
- For senior citizens walk-in registrations will still continue, like the previous phases.
- Unlike the previous phases where 1 person would have booked an appointment for 4 people, In phase 3 starting May 1, only self-registration will be allowed, according to Mygov portal.
