The procedure for receiving COVID-19 vaccination dose in phase-I will be similar to the kind followed for voting in elections. Those on the priority list of the immunisation drive will have to furnish a photo identity card before entering the vaccination booth.
Before the vaccination, those on the list will receive a text message on their registered phone numbers with details about the location of the vaccination centre, the time slot and and identity of the vaccinator. Most of the vaccination centres will be hospitals. After reaching the centre, they have to show any one of the nine government-issued photo ID cards as proof of identity.
Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao said four groups will be immunised in the first phase — healthcare workers, frontline workers such as municipal and sanitation workers, people above the age of 50 years irrespective of their medical condition and people under 50 years with co-morbidities.
There are 80 lakh people in the four groups, whose information will be fed into CO-WIN software. Information in the software will serve the same function as electoral rolls.
A three-step procedure is to be at the vaccination centre. After one’s identity is verified, he/she will be administered a dose in the vaccine booth. Thereafter, the vaccine receiver’s condition will be monitored by medical staff for half hour in the observation room.
A vaccine receiver can go home if there are no Adverse Effects Following Immunisation (AEFI). Dr Srinivasa Rao said that the medical staff present at the booth will attend minor issues. “In case of serious reaction, the person will be shifted to a major hospital,” he said. Ambulances would be placed in strategic locations. Hospitals to attend AEFI cases have been identified.
Asked when those not included in phase-I will receive the vaccine, Dr Srinivasa Rao said directions for that are yet to be issued.
