CoWin error rectified: Those who have registered to get security codes

The CoWin portal now has a new feature effective from Saturday (May 8): those who have registered on the portal and chosen a slot for vaccination will get a security code, which they will have to produce at the vaccination centre for verification. This was necessitated after complaints from people who had not received the jab but found their vaccination certificates had been generated.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said it was noticed that in some instances those who had booked their appointment for vaccination through the CoWin portal did not go to get their jabs on the due date, but still received an SMS notification that a dose was administered to them. The ministry said it was largely on account of the vaccinator wrongly marking the citizen as vaccinated.

It said after verification, if the beneficiary has been found eligible, before administering the dose, the verifier/vaccinator will ask her the four-digit code and then enter it in the CoWIN system to correctly record the vaccination status.

Also read: CoWIN app glitch hampers vaccination drive at some places on day 1

The four-digit code will be printed in the appointment acknowledgement slip and will not be known to the vaccinator. The code will also be in the confirmation SMS sent to the beneficiary after successful booking of appointment. The appointment acknowledgement slip can also be saved and shown from the mobile phone.

“This will ensure that for citizens who have booked an online appointment, the data entries regarding vaccination status of a citizen, are recorded correctly and only for those who book online appointment and avail of the services at the centre where they have booked the appointment,” the ministry said.

It will reduce chances of impersonation or wrongful use of flexibilities provided in CoWin for facilitating vaccination coverage, the ministry added.

Also read: All about CoWIN app — the key to India’s COVID vaccination drive