Co-WIN claim puts unvaccinated migrant labourers in a fix

Documents categorise them as jabbed at their native places

Some migrant labourers who tried to get COVID-19 vaccine at a centre in Kozhikode city recently were surprised to see the Co-WIN portal claiming that they had already got the jab.

According to healthcare workers of the Kozhikode Corporation stationed at the vaccination camp at Tagore Centenary Hall, some workers were seeking their first dose and many others the second dose. They were mainly from Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Assam. The documents downloaded from Co-WIN portal said they had got the vaccine from their native places a day or two before.

The labourers were left wondering how it was possible to go to their villages, get the jab, and return to Kerala in such a short time. They said they had not gone home at all in recent days.

Registration for vaccination is possible only through

www.cowin.gov.in . Since data on the portal showed their status as “vaccinated”, they were not given injection. Health officials pointed out that it was risky to keep them unvaccinated at a time when the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was spreading.

Sources in the Corporation health wing said on Wednesday that they had informed the District Medical Officer (DMO) about the issue. Neither the DMO nor the Reproductive and Child Health Officer, who is in charge of immunisation, was available for comments.