CoWIN portal to roll out ‘four digit security code’ feature tomorrow. Check details

The CoWIN system is set to roll out a ‘4-digit security code’ feature on the CoWIN app from tomorrow. So, those who have registered on the CoWin portal and selected a slot for vaccination will get a four-digit security code that they will have to produce at the vaccination centre to verify themselves. The latest feature will determine whether the beneficiaries who had booked the slot, have actually received the vaccine or not. The government moves comes amidst complaints from registered users that they received a vaccination certificate despite them not getting a jab.

The Ministry of health in a release said that it has been noticed in some instances that citizens that had booked their appointment for Covid vaccination through the CoWIN portal, but did not actually go for vaccination on the scheduled date, have received notification through SMS that a vaccine dose has been administered to them.

The ministry said that upon examination, it was found that this happened “largely on account of the vaccinator wrongly marking the citizen as vaccinated”.

The portal will roll out the feature, Saturday onward, wherein a four-digit security code will be provided to the beneficiary.

“After verification, if the beneficiary has been found as eligible, before administering the vaccine dose, the verifier/vaccinator will ask the beneficiary for the 4 digit code and then enter the same in the CoWIN portal to correctly record the vaccination status,” the government statement said.

Also Read: Struggling to find slots for Covid Vaccine? These websites will alert you about slot availability

The latest initiative will ensure that data entries regarding the vaccination status of a citizen, are recorded correctly and reduce opportunities of “impersonation or wrongful use of flexibilities provided in CoWin for facilitating vaccination coverage”. It will also ensure that those who book online appointments avail the services of centre where they had booked the appointment and not anywhere else.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has further issued an advisory for citizens:

1. Citizens are required to carry a digital or physical copy of the appointment slip or an SMS so that the code can be furnished for easy completion of vaccination.

2. The security code will be furnished to the vaccinator before the vaccination as it is important for the digital certificate.

3. The digital certificate will only be generated after the vaccination record has been updated with the security code.