The glitch: User tries to register for vaccination, learns four others took vaccine using his number

The four persons, Allamma, Rangamma, Nallaswamy and Saraswathi had not just registered for the COVID-19 vaccine, but had also received their first dose of the vaccination. While checking on their certificates that is on the CoWin portal, he learnt that they were vaccinated at a hospital in Chamrajnagar in Karnataka.

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When we asked Rajesh if he clicked on any message or WhatsApp forward that could have led to this, he said he had not received any such message. We tried to find out more and what we learnt that there was a glitch and this may have happened at the start of the vaccination drive.

Many cases have been reported from CoWin 1.0 where the collection of data was done through Excel Sheet for healthcare and frontline workers. This primarily happened in the first drive when on-site registrations took place and errors were made.

Observing the glitch the states and Union Territories have been told to sensitise the verifiers and vaccinators about the problem and ensure that data entry is error free.

On finding such cases, the security measures of CoWin were enhanced and now the authorities say that none will be allowed to access the portal through the mobile phone number of another person without the consent of the owner of the mobile phone.

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If anyone is facing such a problem, then should contact the CoWin helpline and immediately raise a complaint. The national helpline number is 1075.