Health: The central government has directed all states and union territories to put on hold any new registrations of healthcare workers (HCWs) and other frontline workers (FLWs) for COVID-19 vaccination on the Co-WIN website.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued the order after witnessing a sudden spike in the number of registered healthcare workers on the website, and on receiving information that ‘ineligible beneficiaries’ were getting registered in this category to access vaccinations. There has been a 24 percent increase in the HCW database in the past few days.
“As per the recommendation of National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, it has been decided that no fresh registrations in categories of HCWs and FLWs will be allowed with immediate effect. However, universal vaccination of already registered HCWs and FLWs must be ensured at the earliest. Registrations of persons aged 45 years and above will continue to be permitted on Co-WIN portal,” read a letter sent by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to all states and union territories.
India’s vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16th, 2021 but it was limited to healthcare workers and frontline staff. On March 1st, the eligibility criteria was expanded to include all people over the age of 60 and those over the age of 45 with specified co-morbid conditions.
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