Take action against people found involved in dubious activities over Covid-19 vaccine: Home Secretary

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in a video conference with chief secretaries of all states and UTs on Wednesday directed them to take all necessary precautions for a smooth and hassle-free vaccination process. Bhalla asked all the states and UTs to take stern action against anyone found involved in suspicious activities over Covid-19 vaccine.

New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday asked all states and UTs to take stern action against anybody found involved in dubious activities over Covid-19 vaccine.

Bhalla, in a video conference held with chief secretaries of States and UTs, asked them to take all necessary precautions for a smooth and hassle-free vaccination process.

Sources in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat that Bhalla during his meeting with the state government officials reviewed the overall situation regarding the Covid19 vaccination process.

The Government is likely to start the nationwide vaccination by January 13 after two vaccines COVISHIELD and COVAXIN got emergency use authorisation (EUA) approval from country's apex drug regulator.

During his meeting with the state government officials, Bhalla also took a note over reports that criminals are playing various tricks to lure people with fake vaccines.

Interestingly, "Cyber Dost", a cybersecurity awareness handle maintained by the Home Ministry keep circulating messages to avoid dubious links related to Covid 19 vaccine.

"Avoid clicking links that make dubious claims like selling Covid-19 vaccines, free medical supplies, or offering unscientific and unverified treatments for the coronavirus," Cyber Dost said on its latest message.

Being aware of the situation, the Union Health Ministry has said that some apps named Co-WIN apparently created by unscrupulous elements to sound similar to the upcoming official platform of government, are on App stores.

"Do not download or share personnel information on these. Government platform will be adequately publicised on its launch," the ministry said.

The Co-WIN app being developed jointly by the Health Ministry and Ministry of Information and Communication Technology will work as the digital platform for rolling-out of Covid19 vaccination in India.

The Co-WIN app and its ecosystem will be used to manage and scale up vaccination drive.

The government will be using the app which is in the pre-product stage as the one-way strategy to implement the vaccination process. This app will give permission to create a unique health ID for every user.

The app will also provide an automated allocation of vaccination session.