Beneficiaries not getting vaccinated in confirmed slots can be traced to improper planning by DIOs, says Centre

New Delhi [India], May 31 (ANI): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday termed media reports suggesting that even a successful booking on the CoWIN platform for a vaccination slot does not assure one of a Covid-19 vaccine jab as "baseless and incorrect" and said they are not supported by full information on the matter.
"There have been some media reports suggesting that even a successful booking on the CoWIN platform for a vaccination 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.
"CoWIN has been developed as a platform to manage vaccinations across the country. Co-WIN platform facilitates registration (in both online & on-site modes), scheduling of appointments, vaccination & certification of the beneficiary during COVID-19 vaccination process", the ministry added.
The availability of slots on Co-WIN Portal is based on the vaccination schedule published by the District Immunization Officer (DIO) or the Session site in charge, which in turn depends upon the availability of vaccines.
The ministry has also advised the States and UTs to publish vaccination slots based on the availability of vaccines only.
The Union Government has also instructed all States/UTs to give preference to beneficiaries with online appointments than to the ones registering on-site.
"It was noticed that in some cases the DIOs were publishing a session and then, in case vaccines were in short supply, the DIOs cancelled such sessions or return the beneficiaries. This definitely caused inconvenience to such beneficiaries who booked their appointments", the ministry said.
To remove this problem, CoWIN has now provided the feature for rescheduling vaccination sessions so that the DIO does not have to cancel the sessions.
The ministry said the provision to reschedule the pre-booked appointments for rescheduled sessions has also been provided. In such cases, the beneficiary will not have to take a fresh appointment. The beneficiaries will also receive an SMS to inform them about the rescheduling of their session. The system also provides the option of rescheduling or cancelling an appointment to the beneficiaries, the ministry informed. (ANI)