COVID vaccination drive: Prior CoWIN registration not mandatory clarifies Health Minister

On Tuesday, June 15, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare clarified that it is not mandatory to pre-register online to avail vaccination services. The decision comes in response to India's vaccination drive that brought a digital divide as several recipients who didn't own smartphones or have access to the Internet struggled to book COVID vaccination slots. 

According to earlier India's vaccination policy, no walk-in vaccinations were allowed to people aged 18 and above. They had to register in advance using the CoWIN website, Aarogya Setu app or Umang app in order to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

This mandate wasn't a problem for people of urban areas who had access to smartphones and the internet. But, the situation was different and difficult in India’s villages. Even though the spread of Coronavirus reached rural areas of the country, access to COVID vaccination was curtailed by the nation’s digital divide. 

The registrations opened for people aged above 18 on April 28 and the website crashed a few minutes after it launched. Once past this glitch, several users struggled to find relevant slots at nearby private facilities, government schools and dispensaries. And, for those who were unaware of the process, the level of difficulty was even higher.

Updated policy 

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has now informed that it is not necessary to have access to the internet and to know how to operate an app-based system to be able to register for vaccination slot. This decision is made considering the poor and vulnerable population to further avoid an enormous divide in access to the vaccine. 

On-site registration

• Go directly to the nearest vaccination Center where on-site registration is provided 
• Provide your ID proof like Aadhaar card, Ration card, Kisan Passbooks or others to register for vaccination 
• To know more about the registration process, contact the 1075  helpline

Vaccination drive in India

To date, India has administered 25,76,13,357 COVID vaccine doses across 32,717 vaccination sites. A total of 29,02,25,244 people have registered for the vaccination of which 16,71,87,909 people are aged above 45 and 12,30,37,335 people are of age 18 and above. 

(Image Credit: AP/REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)