Duplication of beneficiary names on CoWIN app slowing vaccination drive in Bihar

The issue of duplication of beneficiary names on the portal was first flagged by state authorities last month.

Duplication of names in the CoWIN application and glitches in beneficiaries receiving SMSs, carrying details of their vaccination slots, have contributed in slowing down Bihar's vaccination drive as the deadline to administer the first shot of Covid-19 vaccine to healthcare workers ends on Friday.

Two of Bihar's primary vaccination centres have achieved around 60% of its target. (HT Photo/Representative)

By Thursday, Bihar had inoculated nearly 60% of its 4.64 lakh healthcare workers, who are on top of the priority list for the pan India Covid-19 vaccination drive that began on January 16.

“The Co-WIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) portal throws up names of beneficiaries who have already been vaccinated. Though this number is small, it pulls down our overall vaccination coverage,” said Dr Sanjay Kumar, professor and head, department of community medicine, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

Dr Bimal Karak, former medical superintendent of the Patna Medical College Hospital, had also flagged the issue of duplication of beneficiaries’ names on the portal last month.

All Covid vaccinations have to be done through the CoWIN app, a digital platform used for distribution of the vaccine.

“In some cases, health care workers, who have not yet completed 28 days since their first shot of the vaccine, have received SMS, intimating them to take the vaccine. Such problems have been witnessed on the portal in the last few days, but we have been cautious enough to detect them,” he added.

“Another common issue was non-receipt of intimation about vaccination through SMS. This was common among the lower-level health care workers, who had either changed their mobile number or their mobile number fed into the portal was wrong. As a result, they neither receive any SMS, intimating them about vaccination, nor do phone calls mature on their given number,” said Dr Kumar.

The IGIMS, where chief minister Nitish Kumar had launched the state’s vaccination campaign, had achieved 60% vaccination coverage.

The Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) had also achieved 60% of its vaccination target of vaccinating 2,500 healthcare workers.

“Though the vaccination coverage has gone up from 30% in the initial days to 60% now, there is still some hesitancy among healthcare workers to take the vaccine. We made every effort to encourage those who were reluctant. Friday is the last date for administering the first shot of the vaccine,” said NMCH superintendent Dr Binod Kumar Singh.

The Guru Gobind Singh urban healthcare centre, a district hospital in Patna, had achieved 50.3% vaccination coverage till Wednesday, said its superintendent, Dr Pashupati Kumar Singh. Private healthcare facilities in its close vicinity, having less than 100 healthcare workers, have been tagged to the district hospital for the vaccination purpose.

Executive director, State Health Society, Manoj Kumar, the state nodal officer for vaccination, did not respond to calls.