The second phase of vaccination in India will begin on Monday, March 1, and officials of the Health Department have said that private hospitals will also be roped in for the drive. The health department has dismissed reports that private hospitals are being excluded from the vaccination phase. Around 300 private hospitals in the state will be providing shots for vaccination.
Officials from the health department have also alleged that they have not received proper guidelines from the Union government, leading to confusion among those eligible for the vaccine shot. Registration for vaccination will start on March 1, which is when senior citizens and those aged above 45 years and have comorbidities can get vaccinated.
As per a report in The Hindu, officials said they were flooded with calls with doubts about the registration for vaccinations. Several citizens also tried to log on to the Co-WIN 2.0 application, but the application is currently closed and is expected to be opened only on Monday.
According to reports, Kerala has not received the list of comorbidities and that the list has not been finalized. The Health Department has estimated that over 50 lakh people will be eligible to get vaccinated in the second phase.
The health department has said that the role of private hospitals during the vaccination drive is inevitable. To coordinate the immunization program in private hospitals, health officials in each district had conducted multiple meetings with private hospital authorities. Further steps can be taken only after receiving guidelines from the Union government, the officials added.
Information on the private hospitals enrolled in the second phase of the vaccination drive is available here: http://sha.kerala.gov.in/list-
For the upcoming vaccination drive, apart from registration using the mobile application, on-the-spot registration will also be allowed. One can walk into a nearby vaccination centre and get registered using their Aadhar card.
After Maharashtra, Kerala has been reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases daily. But Kerala has shown the maximum decline in the active number of cases over a month. Currently, 50,514 patients are undergoing treatment. 4,183 deaths have been reported due to COVID 19 in the state to date and the recovery rate is 94.79%.