The Union Health Ministry said on Monday that the Co-WIN app on the Play Store is meant for use only by administrators, and that registration and booking for an appointment for COVID-19 vaccination has to be done through the portal. This was clarified by the ministry amid reported glitches in doing registrations as India opened up vaccination for senior citizens and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities.

“Registration and booking for an appointment for #COVID-19 vaccination are to be done through #CoWIN Portal: www.cowin.gov.in. There is NO #CoWIN App for beneficiary registration. The App on Play Store is for administrators only,” the ministry tweeted.

The government had announced on Wednesday that everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get COVID-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals.

Citizens can register and book an appointment for vaccination, anytime and anywhere, using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal www.cowin.gov.in or through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu. There is also a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated, it said.

The eligible beneficiaries can choose the centre of their choice and book an appointment based on the slots available. All citizens that are aged or will attain the age of 60 or more as of January 1, 2022, are eligible to register, in addition to all such citizens that are aged or will attain the age of 45 to 59 years as of January 1, 2022, and have any of the specified 20 comorbidities.

Citizens can register at the Co-WIN portal through their mobile number, said the ministry as it also released a user manual to handhold the citizens to register and schedule an appointment for vaccination, according to a guidance document issued by the ministry.

A one-time password (OTP) verification will be done prior to registration to ensure the veracity of the mobile number and after registration, an account will be created on Co-WIN for the person. The person can access (login) account on Co-WIN using the mobile phone number used at the time of registration. Features for adding beneficiaries, editing their details, and for booking an appointment(s) will be available in the citizen’s account, the document stated.

The citizen can delete only beneficiaries as have been added by him/her. “If one out of the four beneficiaries registered in an account is vaccinated, only three registrations are left, and so on. “Till the time of vaccination, all the records of registration and appointment can be edited/deleted by the person making the registration. Only when a person gets vaccinated, the record is locked and cannot be edited/deleted,” the document stated.

A beneficiary then has to select the ID card type and provide ID card number. The photo ID card number for each such beneficiary must be different. Either of the following photo identity documents can be used by citizens for availing of online registration – Aadhaar card/letter, electoral photo identity card (EPIC), passport, driving licence, PAN Card, NPR smart card, or pension document with a photograph.

If the age of the beneficiary is from 45 to 59 years, the beneficiary will be prompted to confirm if he/she has any specified comorbidity. In such cases, the beneficiary will also be advised to bring the comorbidity certificate signed by a Registered Medical Practitioner.

Once all the necessary details are recorded by the beneficiary, registration is completed and an acknowledgement (registration slip/token) will be sent to beneficiary on his registered mobile number.