Mumbai: CoWIN app glitches give COVID-19 vaccine centres a harrowing time

Technical issues in the CoWIN app developed by the central government continued to create obstructions and led to a low turnout on Tuesday the second day of the COVID19 vaccination drive Of the 4000 messages generated through the app on Monday 800 recepientsrsquo names turned out to be repeated Vaccination centres also faced issues in online registration and had to execute the process twice Adding to the mix was the anxiety regarding the vaccine which vaccination staffers said could have contributed to the low turnoutOf the of 3200 people shortlisted only 1597 health workers turned up Three people reported minor health issuesRecipients and staff at the vaccination centre at KEM Hospital on TuesdayOn Tuesday many of those who had taken the first dose were listed again for the drive In some hospitals names were repeated twice in the same list However authorities at vaccination centres claimed that it is still early and that they want to give the application time to start running smoothly ldquoOut of 4000 names generated by the app around 1000 were duplicates Even today there are issues and we are trying to contact all beneficiariesrdquo said Dr Mangla Gomare executive health officer BMCWhile on the first day the vaccination centres operated manually CoWINrsquos glitches on Tuesday made the process immensely difficult Technicians who know the app thoroughly have been tasked to help and have been going across the centres spread all over the city to fix problems This delayed the drive throughout TuesdayIncreasing workloadIt took the vaccination staff five to 10 minutes to upload one beneficiaryrsquos details At KEM Hospitalrsquos vaccination centre 101 health workers had reported for the vaccine till 1230 pm One of those in charge of the vaccination centre told midday ldquoWe received a list of around 350 recipients for five booths The CoWIN app doesnrsquot have time slots so sometimes many people come together This creates issues in loading information on the app We registered peoplersquos information offline and loaded when the queue was over This is increasing our workloadrdquoA health worker gets his shot PicAshish RajeDr Milind Nadkar academic dean of KEM Hospital told midday ldquoThere may be some glitches but the vaccination drive is going on smoothly We are trying our best to manage the driverdquoWhile the turnout at various centres remained 50 to 55 per cent authorities claimed that apart from the obvious reasons of reluctance and fear of adverse effects people also might not have been able to make it owing to late lastminute calls a laidback attitude or the overall inefficiency of the application in reaching out to people and generating correct listsThe medical superintendent at VN Desai Hospital Prashant More said ldquoWe did not see a huge turnout so our ward officersquos health officials are calling up beneficiaries and reminding them about the vaccinationrdquoOther doctors at peripheral hospitals felt that people might not be turning up thinking COVID cases have reduced and as such a vaccine is not necessary now A doctor at Cooper hospital said duplication of names was a problem thereOnly 13 turn up at JJ hospital for shotThe vaccination centre at the staterun JJ Hospital was very quiet as compared to KEM Hospital Three medical students at the reception tried to register recipients details on CoWIN and took the consent form from a doctor whorsquod come to take the vaccine Of the 100 beneficiaries expected to turn up for the Covaxin shot only 13 turned up Dr Prashant Howal in charge of the vaccination centre said ldquoDean Ranjeet Mankeshawar instructed us to call the 100 beneficiaries again today But many cited reasons such as medicines that they are taking for other diseases Some women said they are lactating some were out of town etcrdquoA doctor who came to get vaccinated told midday ldquoThere is no difference between the two vaccines apart from the fact that Covaxin hasnrsquot completed the third stage trial It is completely saferdquo The doctor works at JJ hospital and received a call on Monday evening He did not get a message from the CoWIN appVaccination nos on Day 2 KEM hospital 307 Sion hospital 110 Cooper hospital 229 Nair hospital 165 VN Desai hospital 59 Ambedkar hospital Kandivli 236 Rajawadi hospital 285 BKC jumbo COVID centre 103 Bhabha hospital 90 JJ hospital 13