Netizens flagged concerns over the “breach of privacy” after details of persons who were due to receive the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine were put up on the official website of the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine.
However, the district/block-wise list of persons who are yet to be vaccinated with the second dose that included their names was soon replaced with statistics.
The DPH had published the list on its website tndphpm.com. In an earlier video on the importance of vaccination as a tool to prevent another wave of infections, it had mentioned that such a list was readied for a targeted approach and put up on the website. The health teams were advised to organise camps, using the village-wise details, to reach them.
However, social media was quick to point out that this amounted to violation of individual rights to privacy and data leak. The list contained details of the district, block, session site ID and name, beneficiary name, beneficiary reference ID, type of COVID-19 vaccination centre, vaccine name, the date of the first dose and the number of days due for the second dose.
About 1.5 crore persons were due for the second dose.
T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said the list was meant for the health teams. “We have not mentioned the mobile numbers of the persons (which is key to gaining access to their details on the CoWIN portal). The list was for our teams to reach those who are yet to take the second dose at the block and village levels. The details were taken from the CoWIN portal and segregated village- and block-wise to facilitate our teams to reach the people,” he said. He said the list was removed to avoid controversy.
