In order to minimise errors and inconvenience caused to citizens registering for COVID vaccination, the CoWIN system will introduce a new feature — a four-digit security code — in its app from May 8, the Health Ministry has said.
“It has been noticed in some instances that citizens who booked their appointment for COVID vaccination through the CoWIN portal did not actually go for vaccination on the scheduled date but received a notification through SMS that a vaccine dose has been administered to them. Upon examination, it has been found to occur largely on account of the vaccinator wrongly marking the citizen as vaccinated, an instance of a data entry error by the vaccinator,” noted the Ministry.
The added feature now is to minimise these errors. The Ministry said that after verification if the beneficiary has been found as eligible, before administering the vaccine 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.
This new feature will be applicable only for citizens who book online for a vaccination slot.
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.
“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 the services at the centre where they have booked the appointment,” said the Ministry.
It added that this will also reduce the possibilities of impersonation and wrongful use of flexibilities provided in CoWIN for facilitating vaccination coverage.
Advisory issued
The Ministry has also issued an advisory for those coming in for vaccination. The Ministry has noted that citizens must carry a copy (digital or physical) of their appointment slip and/or the registered mobile phone with appointment confirmation SMS, so that the security code can be furnished for easy completion of vaccination recording process.
It is also advised that the security code is furnished to the verifier/vaccinator before the vaccine dose is administered.
“This is important as the digital certificate would be generated after the vaccine dose administration,” said the Ministry.
The Ministry noted that citizens should get a confirmation SMS after the process.
“The confirmation SMS indicates that the vaccination process has been completed successfully and the digital certificate has been generated. If one does not get the confirmation SMS, one should get in touch with the vaccinator/ vaccination centre in-charge,” it said.