Service providers can now check vaccination status of an individual on CoWIN portal with consent

The service is being built to help citizens who may not have the vaccine certificate available in digital or paper form for availing a requested service and can support the service provider to verify the vaccination status/vaccination digital record of the citizen as per the authorised permission of the requesting entity.

PTI

November 20, 2021 / 16:54 IST

Representative image (Source: ShutterStock)

The Union Health Ministry has activated a service on the CoWIN portal that allows anyone to check an individual's vaccination status with the person's registered mobile number and name, followed by an OTP for consent.

The service could be utilised by a service provider — private entities such as travel agencies, offices, employers, entertainment agencies or government agencies such as IRCTC — for whom verifying a person's vaccination status is critical for facilitating a service requested by the citizen, an official said.

"Now download the fully / partially vaccinated badge from CoWIN (cowin.gov.in) & share it with your friends on all your social platforms! Encourage your family and friends to follow you and #FightCovid," National Health Authority CEO R S Sharma said in a tweet.

The service is being built to help citizens who may not have the vaccine certificate available in digital or paper form for availing a requested service and can support the service provider to verify the vaccination status/vaccination digital record of the citizen as per the authorised permission of the requesting entity.

The service helps in verifying the vaccination status of individuals The service can be utilised by travel agencies and help making travel safe for individuals by allowing travel only for vaccinated individuals.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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