‘COWIN certificates to mention date of birth’

THE NEW FEATURE, LIKELY TO BE AVAILABLE FROM NEXT WEEK, IS BEING INTRODUCED IN COMPLIANCE WITH W.H.O. NORMS

NEW DELHI: The government will soon introduce a new feature to the COWIN platform to add the full date of birth of fully vaccinated beneficiaries who wish to travel abroad on the certificates, officials familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

The development has come amid ongoing discussions between India and the UK over Covid-19 vaccination certificates.

“It has been decided that a new feature will be added to COWIN under which those who are fully vaccinated and want to travel abroad will have full date of birth on their vaccination certificates,” one of the officials cited above said.

The new feature, likely to be available from next week, is being introduced in compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) norms. WHO guidelines for digital documentation of Covid-19 vaccination certificates state that the beneficiary’s date of birth is a “required” field.

Currently, COWIN certificates only mention the beneficiary’s age based on the year of birth.

The UK on Wednesday amended its new travel guidelines to include Covishield, the Indian-made version of the Astrazeneca vaccine, in its list of approved Covid-19 vaccines, after India called its decision to consider fully vaccinated Indians “unvaccinated” discriminatory.

However, Indian travellers vaccinated with two doses of Covishield would still have to undergo 10 days of quarantine in the UK notwithstanding the amendment, UK officials clarified on Wednesday.

“We’re clear Covishield is not a problem...we have been having detailed technical discussions to ensure that both countries mutually recognise the vaccine certificates issued by each other,” British High Commissioner Alex Ellis had said in a statement on Wednesday.