Beneficiaries are unable to receive the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine shot despite having a confirmed slot online, according to the Centre. This is attributable to bad management on the part of the vaccination centre staff, not to flaws in the CoWIN digital platform.
“Availability of slots on Co-WIN portal is based on the vaccination schedule published by district immunisation officer (DIO)/session site in-charge which in turn depends upon the availability of vaccines. States/UTs have been advised that they should publish vaccination slots based on the availability of vaccines. The Union Government has also instructed all states/UTs to give preference to beneficiaries with online appointments than to on-site registrations,” said the Union health ministry in a statement on Monday.
During the Covid-19 immunisation procedure, the CoWIN platform facilitates registration (both online and on-site), appointment scheduling, vaccination, and beneficiary verification.
It was brought to the authorities’ attention that in certain circumstances, DIOs would advertise a session but then cancel it or send the beneficiaries back because vaccines were in insufficient supply, causing difficulty to those who had previously scheduled an appointment.