How to register your parents for the covid-19 vaccine, and is it safe for them?

It’s 2021, and although covid-19 isn’t over, the vaccination programme is on in full force to fight this virus. After vaccinating the frontline workers, the government has rolled out its next phase of vaccination, where senior citizens above the age of 60 years, and those who are 45 and older with co-morbidities can register themselves for inoculation. 

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Health Authority India (NHA) have uploaded a user guide on their website to help people register and book their appointment. 

Nonetheless, we have for you a guide that can help you get your parents registered for the vaccine. It will help you understand the instructions better, so that you can book an appointment at the earliest. 

Here’s what you need to do:

1. You can visit http://www.cowin.gov.in to register themselves or log in to the Aarogya Setu app, which has CoWIN app integration. Remember there is no CoWin app on the Play store. 
2. The registrations began on March 1. You can now choose to register your parents every day between 9 am and 3 pm. The availability of slots nearby is subject to availability.

3. Next, open the cowin website or the Aarogya Setu app, enter your parents’ mobile number and click on the OTP. Once you receive the OTP,  key it in and click on the verify button.

4. Next, go to the vaccination tab, and tap on proceed.

5. A registration page will appear, where you need to enter your parents’ photo ID type, number and full name. You also need to enter their gender and age.

6. If you are registering for a senior citizen, click on the register button. In case you are registering for a person with co-morbidities, you have to click on yes, when it asks “Do you have any comorbidities?”. Those between 45 to 60 years will need to carry a medical certificate, when they go for the appointment.

7. Once your parents are registered, they will receive a confirmation message to the registered mobile number.

Once the registration is done, you can book an appointment for your parents’ vaccination. Here’s how:

1. In front of the registered names’ account details, you will see a column named ‘Action’. Below it, you will notice a calendar icon, you can click that to schedule your parents’ vaccination appointment. 
2. Once you’re taken to the appointment page, you have to enter your location details, and press the search page. 
3. Once you get the details, you can either click confirm or go back to make changes. 
4. Once done, your parents will receive a confirmation message regarding their appointment on their registered mobile number. 
5. They can download and save the confirmation from the website too. 
6. In case they need to reschedule the appointment, one can do it easily on the website or the Aarogya Setu app.

How safe is the vaccine?

Yes, research shows that vaccines for covid-19 are absolutely safe, after being tested in large clinical trials. The side-effects of the vaccine are minimal, and nothing to be apprehensive about. Although the covid-19 vaccine has been developed more rapidly than the others, it has been carefully tested and monitored for safe use. 

According to the CDC, people with allergies to certain foods, insects, latex and other common allergens can safely receive the COVID-19 vaccine. But those with a history of severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) to injectables or other vaccines should discuss the vaccination with their doctor first.

But there are a few side-effects that you should be aware of: 

1. Pain around the injection site

The most commonly reported side effect was an injection site reaction. There are cases of redness, warmth, mild swelling and firmness around the site. In some cases, people found it a little difficult to move their arm, because of the pain.

2. Fatigue, headaches and muscle pain

These side-effects were observed in a large percentage of the participants, who received the vaccine. Generally, these symptoms are mild, and get better within a day or so. 

3. Serious illnesses

The reported rate of serious adverse events is less than 0.5% with the covid-19 vaccine. There have been four cases of Bell’s palsy in people who were administered the vaccine in the US.