While the Centre government recently passed guidelines instructing individuals recovering from COVID-19 to wait for three months before getting inoculated, it would seem that this is not quite enforceable. The CoWin platform through which a large part of vaccination appointments are booked is yet to add an eligibility feature to filter out such individuals. As such, any recently recovered person can book themselves an appointment ahead of time and get vaccinated.
A nodal officer at a COVID-19 vaccination centre in Delhi's East Delhi district told India Today TV that the platform lacks the capability to check whether a beneficiary has recovered from COVID-19 recently or not. He added that the platform also has no information regarding the date when such a beneficiary would be eligible for the jab.
It is also unclear when the three month count down should begin. Keep in mind that the period of recovery varies from patient to patient, and that the Central guidelines merely indicate a waiting period of three months from the time of recovery. A similar restriction has been placed upon individuals testing positive after receiving one dose of the vaccine as well as those who have received anti-SARS-2 monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma.
In recent weeks, the CoWin platform has been at the centre of several controversies, having faced technical glitches since its inception. The Centre is also facing flak over its purported exclusion of people with imited access to the Internet, such as those in remote or rural areas.
Until recently, CoWin platform along with the Aarogya Setu app, and the UMANG app were the only platforms that allowed registration. However, after having issued revised guidelines the Centre claims that third-party apps will shortly be permitted to allow booking of vaccination slots.
“Co-WIN API Services can be offered to ASPs, who intend to or are providing COVID-19 vaccination-related services and are registered for operations in India. Using the service, the approved organizations can avail the whitelisted data elements from Co-WIN in real-time. The ASPs can integrate the APIs with their applications to extend the quality and reach of their initiative.” the guidelines read.
