The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday refuted as “baseless” reports, which alleged that the homeless have been “barred and conspicuously left out” from registering for Covid-19 vaccination due to unavailability of technical requirements.
“There have been some media reports alleging that homeless people have been ‘barred and conspicuously left out’ from registering for COVID-19 vaccination due to unavailability of technical requirements. The reports have further stated ‘requirement to register digitally’, ‘knowledge of English and access to a computer or a smart phone connected to the internet’ as some of the factors depriving people of vaccination. These claims are baseless and not based on facts,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said in an official statement.
It further clarified that the ownership of a mobile phone is not a prerequisite for COIVD vaccination, production of address proof for availing vaccination is not mandatory, and pre-registration online on Co-WIN is also not mandatory.
Meanwhile, it added that for easy understanding of users, Co-WIN is now available in 12 languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Gurumukhi (Punjabi) and English.
