On June 18, Mridula Mangalam, a PhD scholar in Allahabad University, received a certificate noting that she had been fully vaccinated. The final certificate of vaccination said she had been administered the second dose of Covaxin by health staff Anita at the Community Health Centre (CHC) (Soraon) in Prayagraj district.
While being certified as being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus would have been a matter of joy for the 25-year-old scholar, it came as a big shock to her.
Ms. Mangalam got the certificate even though she did not receive her second dose. In fact, she said, she did not even go to the CHC on the said day.
“I scheduled my appointment for vaccination but couldn’t go,” she stated, reasoning that it was raining and the CHC was more than 20 km away.
She said she later tried to contact a senior official but was told that it was due to a human error and the matter would be resolved if she visited the centre.
Ms. Mangalam then struggled to reschedule her appointment as she had received her certification of full vaccination. On June 22, she went to the CHC but was told there was a server problem and that they could not do anything about it, she noted.
“They told me to create another account with a different number and asked me to get the first dose of Covaxin with the new account,” she said. This way she would have got her two doses.
But though she registered with another number she had not been able to get a slot for a dose of Covaxin.
Over 3.20 crore doses of vaccine have been administered in the State, as per the Co-WIN portal. Of these, 2.73 crore people received the first dose, while 46.97 lakh second doses were administered.
In Mau district, Umda Rai, 65, is facing a similar situation. On May 4, she received a provisional certificate for her first dose at the Doharighat CHC, without even getting a jab, said her son Vidya Bhushan Rai.
Mr. Rai said his mother did not go to the CHC for her vaccination as she had developed fever days before the appointment. “We thought as per government guidelines, we should not get her vaccinated while she was having fever and should wait for a few days,” he stated.
Mr. Rai, a shopkeeper, emphasised that he complained on the helpline number and even spoke to an official in charge of vaccination about the problem but no solution came about.
‘Rare cases’
Dr. B.K Yadav, vaccination in charge, Mau, said such cases were “rare” but it would be probed if the person submitted a written application. “The person can then get vaccinated.”
The “mistake” in the portal could be due to a technical reason arising if a person booked a session for more than one person through the same number. “The person gets a verification code. Without that, it [vaccination details] cannot be entered into the portal. How her vaccination code reached the vaccinator [would be probed],” he added.