Do you need to register via phone call to get a COVID-19 vaccine? Fact Check

With a few countries already administering the COVID-19 vaccines to their citizens, vaccine talk has increased the momentum. News about the vaccine distribution mechanism are of utmost importance and many countries, including India, have decided to give the first dosages to frontline workers and then the others.

DigitEye Team received a fact check query on its WhatsApp number.

The claim was in Hindi and said that “one should not attend to any calls related to corona vaccine. In the name of registration, they ask for Aadhar ID, then they ask for the OTP received on the registered phone number. They say that the registration process is completed but once they receive the OTP, they empty your bank account”

A similar message was received in English as below:

 

Fact Check:

According to the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the vaccine will be given first to healthcare workers, frontline workers, people above 50 years of age, followed by people below 50 years who have comorbidities. Others will be vaccinated subsequently in stages. The latest electoral roll will be used to identify people who are 50 years old and above.

The Centre has yet to release an app- the CO-WIN App– also called the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network. The Co-Win App is divided into five modules:

• administrator module,
• registration module,
• vaccination module,
• beneficiary acknowledgement module, and
• report module. 

The citizens need to register themselves on the registration module using the photo identity documents as mentioned. Pre-registration will be made mandatory and no on-spot registrations will be followed to avoid crowding.

After registration, the citizen will receive an SMS on their registered phone number along with other details regarding the vaccination schedule. One needs to carry the same photo identity document with them during the vaccination process too.

“After all doses of vaccine are administered, a QR code based certificate will also be sent to the registered mobile number of the beneficiary,” states an FAQ document on vaccine distribution issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The vaccine will be administered in two doses, each with a gap of 28 days.

Conclusion:

No registrations are being conducted on phone calls. One should treat such calls with caution and discretion. All registrations will be conducted on the Co-Win app, which is yet to release. Our rating of the claim for registration for vaccination is  – Totally False.