‘Vaccination centres being mismanaged’

These reports are baseless and incorrect, not supported by full information on the matter

Beneficiaries are not able to get the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine shot, despite a confirmed slot online, due to poor management by the staff at the vaccination centre, and not due to glitches in the COWIN digital platform, the central government said on Tuesday.

The COWIN platform facilitates registration (in both online and on-site modes), scheduling of appointments, vaccination and certification of beneficiary during Covid-19 vaccination process.

“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 availability of vaccines. States/ nation slot does not assure one of a Covid-19 vaccine jab. These reports are baseless and incorrect, not supported by full information on the matter,” the ministry said.

It was noticed that in some cases the DIOS were publishing a session and then in case vaccines were in short supply, they used to cancel such sessions or return the beneficiaries. “This definitely caused inconvenience to such beneficiaries who booked their appointments for such vaccination centres/ sessions. To remove this problem, COWIN has now provided the feature for rescheduling of vaccination sessions so that the DIO does not have to cancel the sessions,” the statement said.

Provision has also been made that pre-booked appointments for a session, also get rescheduled when a session is resched