CoWin introduces security code feature from tomorrow for online booking

The Union health ministry on Friday said that it was introducing
a new security feature in the CoWin platform to ease the process of booking
vaccination slots. The statement comes after users who had booked vaccination
slots were reportedly displayed as ‘vaccinated’ on the digital platform, as per a
release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In the new feature, after going through registration and booking
their slots on cowin.gov.in, users will be receiving a four-digit security
code, which will need to be produced during vaccination in the vaccination
centre. It will also be mentioned in the digital certificate.

Also read: Tech experts raise concerns over CoWIN, say it slows out vaccine rollout

“This will ensure that, for such citizens who have
booked an online appointment, the data entries regarding vaccination status of
a citizen, are recorded correctly and only for those who book online
appointment and avail the services at the centre where they have booked the
appointment.

This will also reduce the opportunities for impersonation and wrongful
use of flexibilities provided in CoWIN for facilitating vaccination
coverage,” the health ministry said in its release.

Also Read| People aged 18-44 can choose COVID jabs at private centres: CoWin chief

Aarogya Setu, used both as a COVID-19 tracker and an app for
vaccination, has introduced a similar system of acquiring a code. In this case, however,
the user would require an OTP for both logging into the application as well as
registering for the vaccination process.

The Twitter handle of Arogya Setu, too, on May 1 put out an
updated list of privacy policies and terms of service for users looking to get
themselves vaccinated and download the certificates.