The Kerala government has issued orders de-centralising the vaccination process to ensure that the first dose of vaccine reaches all vulnerable categories as fast as possible.
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The government order (GO) issued on Tuesday directs District Collectors to coordinate with the Health Department and prepare ward-wise list of people 60 years of age and above who have not yet received the first dose and to vaccinate them on priority basis.
The order says that all bed-ridden patients above 18 years of age should also be identified and vaccinated, for which mobile vaccination units should be deployed.
The vaccination of these two categories of vulnerable persons should be completed on a priority basis before August 15, the GO says.
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After vaccinating these vulnerable persons, vaccination for the rest of the people may be planned and conducted properly, depending on the availability of vaccines.
Vulnerability reduction
This is to ensure vulnerability reduction of those most at risk of COVID-19, as the rate of fatality amongst those with co-morbidities has been found to be quite high.
People can register online in CoWIN portal and book the vaccination session, for which 50% of slots will be available online, while the rest shall be set aside for spot registration.
Vaccine slot in own ward
However, when registering online, people should ensure that they are registering in the panchayat/municipality/Corporation in which they reside and preferably in the same ward, the GO says.
At present, the CoWIN portal does not restrict people from booking a vaccination slot at their place of preference, be it a neighbouring ward or even a neighbouring district.
While this allows people a lot of flexibility in vaccination, given the serious issue of vaccine shortage across the State, people from one municipality/ward may seek vaccine in a ward/municipality far away from their place of residence where slots might be available.
Skirmishes at centres
This has been leading to skirmishes at vaccination centres as this upsets the vaccine prioritisation at the ward-level. The residents of a particular municipality/panchayat may not get slots because the free slots may be booked by people from a neighbouring ward/municipality.
While the GO seeks to avoid this confusion by insisting that people register in their own place of residence, this may again lead to issues, as long as adequate vaccine supplies are not available, it is pointed out.
The GO also directs that the beneficiaries for the 50% slots, which are kept open for spot registration, should be selected on the order of priority.
Beneficiaries above 60 years who are due for the second dose and all bed-ridden individuals above 18 due for the second dose come at the top of the list for spot registration, followed by those with co-morbidities in various age groups.
The GO also directs that these ward-level lists of beneficiaries should be consolidated and allocated to the respective vaccination sites in each local body to avoid confusion.