Sunil Hindre, a Mumbai resident, received his first jab of Covishield at a government hospital. To his surprise, the name of vaccine on his certificate read 'Covaxin'.
"After downloading my vaccination certificate from CoWIN, the vaccine name displayed 'Covaxin'. Now I am unable to book the second dose of Covishield," said Hindre, visibly worried as CoWIN only allows beneficiaries to schedule same vaccines for both doses.
Like Hindre, a number of vaccine beneficiaries are now saying their vaccine certificates too, mention the incorrect vaccine.
No Response From Technical Officers
Lakshaman Swaroop, a senior citizen, said he is unable to book the second dose of Covishield because of the wrong name issued in his CoWIN vaccination certificate. "I do not know who to approach but I need to get my jab as soon as possible," he said.
Swaroop said he tried calling the helpline number, but got no response. It's been more than a month, and he continues to wait for his second jab.
Bangalore resident Shreya Pillay told The Quint that her vaccination certificate also mentioned wrong name of the vaccine. Upon calling the helpline number 1075, an expert convinced her of choosing wrong vaccine on the CoWIN registration portal.
Ankit Bedi, a resident of Delhi, said that wrong vaccine names were mentioned on his parents’ certificates. “I was paranoid, but then I spoke to hospital authorities regarding the issue, following which, the hospital issued a clarification which I then submitted to NHA Chief RS Sharma via an e-mail."
Who is At Fault?
The Quint reached out to government authorities to understand what’s causing the error.
A top official ministry source on the condition of anonymity told The Quint that CoWIN app has nothing to do with wrong name of vaccines that is being generated on certificates.
Explaining why this happens, the source said, "this is a mistake done by hospital staff. The CoWIN app has nothing to do with this. An individual is given a choice to book a vaccine, so for instance if someone chooses 'Covaxin' as his first dose, he/she should be administered that particular jab only. However, it has come to light that in some cases hospitals have administered different vaccines to citizens, citing acute shortage".
He further said that a vaccination certificate will only reflect the name of vaccine that was booked at the time of registration on CoWIN portal.
The source confirmed that such cases have come to light in Telangana, Maharashtra, and some private and government hospitals in Delhi as well. “We have started sending warnings to such hospitals, so that this does not happen in the future,” he said.
The Quint spoke to a data operator at a government hospital in Mumbai who alleged that hospitals are not at fault . "We are trying to help people by giving them vaccines, even though there is an acute shortage. Government should administer enough vaccines, so that we don't have to compromise and give out whatever is available."
Furthermore, the operator said that as a responsibility they inform the person who is being given a different vaccine.
How Can You Change Errors in Vaccine Certificates?
On 9 June, the Indian government announced a new update through which CoWIN users can correct any inadvertent errors in name, year of birth, and gender printed on the vaccination certificate.
“Now you can make corrections to your name, year of birth and gender on your CoWIN vaccination certificates if inadvertent errors have come in,” the official handle of the Aarogya Setu app tweeted on Wednesday, 16 June.
The Union Health Ministry said that to make the process seamless, a special feature called 'Raise an Issue' has been added to CoWIN platform.
However, this feature does not allow you to edit name of vaccines. “We are already working on a feature which will allow all the vaccination certificate holders to edit their vaccine names and date of vaccination online on CoWIN," a ministry source told The Quint.
To get the vaccine name changed, one has to get in touch with the hospital or the local civic bodies.
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