HYDERABAD: Nearly 50 lakh people are eligible to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in Telangana from March 1 as part of the Centre’s third phase of the vaccine rollout. This means roughly 44 lakh people above the age of 60 and nearly 6 lakh between 45 and 60 with co-morbidities are likely to receive the shot.
Senior officials of the Health Department have said apart from self-registration on the CoWIN app which will launch in the coming week, people can also walk in to any centre to receive the vaccine. “We are keeping both these options open. The Centre is yet to release the guidelines but one can walk into the nearest centre with a relevant ID card and get vaccinated,” Telangana Public Health Director Dr G Srinivasa Rao said.
Around 1,500 centres will be set up, of which nearly 1,000 are PHCs, over 300 Aarogyasri-empanelled hospitals and 200-odd government hospitals. ID cards such as voter ID and Aadhaar card, which mention the person’s date of birth, will be accepted. “If the response is high and the vaccination sessions at each site increase, the centres will be increased by extending the facility to sub-centres,” Dr Rao said.
Additionally, vaccinators and staff will be trained to use the latest version of CoWIN over the next four days. “Phase-3 of the vaccine rollout will be software-driven with a new version of the app which will have features such as spot-registration. This will be done by the staff, for which a training session will be conducted by the Centre,” he said. The CoWIN app is yet to be made public for self-registration.