Chandigarh, February 26:
With the prioritization as guided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), the next phase of vaccination is due for citizens of age appropriate categories, including initially the people above 60 years of age and those aged from 45 years to 60 years and have the co-morbidities.
Disclosing this here today, Health Minister Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that all such citizens that are aged, or will attain the age of 45 years to 59 years as on 1st January 2022, and have any of the specified co-morbidities, which have been recommended by NEGVAC and approved by Government of India from time to time, subject to certification to that effect by a Registered Medical Practitioner.
Mr. Sidhu added that to augment and simplify the process of registration vaccination, the MoHFW is coming with COWIN 2.0, based on the feedback received during the implementation of Phase-1 of COVID-19 vaccination drive. He said that citizens will be able to register and book an appointment for vaccination using the COWIN 2.0 portal or through other IT applications such as ArogyaSetu etc.
He said that this new portal would prove helpful to expedite the vaccination drive especially to be conducted for aged people.
The Minister said that as per World Health Organisation, COVID-19 vaccination is the single way out to deal with pandemic so that eligible beneficiaries have to take maximum benefit of this golden opportunity.
Divulging about the free & paid services, he said that vaccination will be provided free of charge at the Government Health Facilities and will be on payment basis in the Private Health Facilities, at a rate as may be decided by the Government of India from time to time.
——-
List of specified Comorbidities for determination of eligibility of citizens in age group 45 to 59 years
| SN | Criterion |
| 1 | Heart Failure with hospital admission in past one year |
| 2 | Post Cardiac Transplant/Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) |
| 3 | Significant Left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVEF <40%) |
| 4 | Moderate or Severe Valvular Heart Disease |
| 5 | Congenital heart disease with severe PAH or Idiopathic PAH |
| 6 | Coronary Artery Disease with past CABG/PTCA/MIAND Hypertension/Diabetes on treatment |
| 7 | Angina AND Hypertension/Diabetes on treatment |
| 8 | CT/MRI documented stroke AND Hypertension/Diabetes on treatment |
| 9 | Pulmonary artery hypertension AND Hypertension/Diabetes on treatment |
| 10 | Diabetes (> 10 yearsORwith complications) AND Hypertension on treatment |
| 11 | Kidney/ Liver/ Hematopoietic stem cell transplant: Recipient/On wait-list |
| 12 | End Stage Kidney Disease on haemodialysis/ CAPD |
| 13 | Current prolonged use of oral corticosteroids/ immunosuppressant medications |
| 14 | Decompensated cirrhosis |
| 15 | Severe respiratory disease with hospitalizations in last two years/FEV1 <50% |
| 16 | Lymphoma/ Leukaemia/ Myeloma |
| 17 | Diagnosis of any solid cancer on or after 1st July 2020 ORcurrently on any cancer therapy |
| 18 | Sickle Cell Disease/ Bone marrow failure/ Aplastic Anemia/ Thalassemia Major |
| 19 | Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases/ HIV infection |
| 20 | Persons with disabilities due to Intellectual disabilities/ Muscular Dystrophy/ Acid attack with involvement of respiratory system/ Persons with disabilities having high support needs/ Multiple disabilities including deaf-blindness |
