Merging two ‘first dose’ COVID-19 vaccination certificates on CoWin an uphill task for many

Merging two first dose certificates of Covid-19 vaccine is turning out to be an impossible task for several beneficiaries, with Co-WIN not accepting such requests due to differences in the spelling of names or errors in other parameters on either of the two certificates, a central official with the portal management team said on Friday.

Many vaccine beneficiaries got their first dose by registering from one cellphone number and second dose after registering from another phone number. Though such users have now completed their vaccination schedule, they have received two first dose certificates on account of having signed up with two different phone numbers.

To avoid such a situation, the ministry of health and family welfare had introduced an option to merge two first dose certificates on Co-WIN to get a final vaccination certificate.

Ophthalmologist Dr PK Saraf told TOI, “I received two first dose certificates despite using the same phone number for registration. Somehow, the vaccinating staff at the hospital updated the wrong beneficiary reference ID during the second dose administration. So, both my certificates have a different beneficiary reference ID. I tried merging the two certificates on Co-WIN, but the request was rejected.”

Another Pune resident, who did not wish to be named, said, “Several states, including Maharashtra, have eased interstate travel for the fully vaccinated. So, the final certificate is very important. However, I have been unable to merge my two certificates since days now. I had used two different phone numbers while getting both the doses. While registering on Co-WIN the second time with a different cellphone number, I made an error punching in the gender. Both certificates now show a different gender and my merging request is being rejected due to this.”

P Ghosh (56) has been facing a slightly different issue. “I had received just one vaccine dose, but what Co-WIN issued me was a ‘final vaccination certificate’, instead of the ‘Provisional first dose certificate’. Now I am facing problems in getting my second dose because Co-WIN shows that I have already received the final certificate. There is no option on Co-WIN to rectify this odd error,” Ghosh told TOI.

A central official with the Co-WIN portal management team said, “When an attempt is made to merge two certificates, details like beneficiary’s name, gender, age, reference ID are checked to see if they all match. In case they do not match, the merging request does not go through.”

The official said nearly 31 lakh requests on Co-WIN’s “raise an issue” feature have been resolved, while only 10,000-odd grievances are pending. “We are looking into such issues and would relax some conditions for them,” he said.