People who want to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in a private hospital will have to register through the CoWin 2 app, as walk-in registration facility would not be allowed immediately, a senior health department official said on Saturday.

Most of the private hospitals do not have cold storage facilities to keep vials of the Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

The vaccines should not be wasted and the state health department wants to supply the exact number of vials required to vaccinate registered persons. State-run hospitals, however, will offer the option of walk-in registration as well as prior registration through the CoWin 2 app.

“We are allowing the walk-in registration facility in only state-run hospitals. All major state run hospitals have cold storage facilities where they can keep extra vials that they can immediately use if there are many potential recipients. But many private hospitals do not have the cold storage facility. So, we have to supply them only that many vials that they require,” said Narayan Swaroop Nigam, the secretary of the state government’s health department.

If only pre-registered persons are allowed to take the vaccine in private hospitals, then the number of vials needed in a day will be known beforehand, said another official.

Another reason for keeping walk-in registrations open only at state-run hospitals was that the poorer section of the society goes to state-run hospitals and most of them could feel uncomfortable in using the CoWin2 app, said a health department official.

Chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Nigam and other senior state government officials held a webinar with officials of private hospitals on Saturday, where the hospitals officials were told that vaccination of people above 60 years and those between 45 and 59 will begin from Monday. In private hospitals, vaccination could begin only from Tuesday, said officials of the hospitals.

The private hospitals will have to deposit the money for the vials in a bank account designated by the government before receiving them. But the price of the vials was not mentioned during Saturday’s webinar.

Nigam said the age on January 1, 2022 would be considered. Someone who is 59 now and will turn 60 by next January 1 will become eligible to receive the vaccine, he added.

At least one private hospital in the city said they had decided to open a help desk for those not comfortable with the app. “We have decided to keep facilitators who will register those people who are not tech-savvy...,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO, AMRI Hospitals.

People between 45 and 59 with comorbidities must get a certificate from a registered medical practitioner in a prescribed format. Officials of the state health department said they would try to publicise the format soon.

“We will come up with FAQs (frequently asked questions) so everyone gets a clear idea of how to go about with the process,” said an official. The FAQs will be uploaded on websites of the state government.

The state government has set a target of setting up nearly 10,000 vaccination centres to cover around two crore recipients in these categories.

Additional reporting by Kinsuk Basu