AHMEDABAD: The Suthar family at Deesa town in Banaskantha (BK), a large rural district in Gujarat, is reeling from Covid-19 vaccination bloopers.
These include a deceased grandfather being pronounced ‘fully vaccinated’, the mother having had her vaccine dose without actually getting the jab and last but not the least, the phone numbers of their sons being registered on the CoWIN application in the name of random women.
The biggest shocker for the family was their grandfather Raghanath Suthar getting fully vaccinated recently on June 8, a good 18 days after he died of old-age related complications on March 20.
“We got an alert about my grandfather getting his first vaccine dose on March 8, but we did not pay much attention to it as Dadaji was bedridden with a fracture and other complications,” says Dilip Suthar, an ME civil engineering student.
“We got apprehensive about some mistake or irregularity only when we received the message about him being fully vaccinated after his death.
There is surely some irregularity in the system somewhere,” says Suthar.
This is not the first time the Gujarat administration has vaccinated dead citizens.
Recently, the family members of Hardas Karingiya, who had died in 2018, got an SMS saying he was vaccinated on May 3, nearly three years after his death.
In another case, Dahod-resident Naresh Desai recently got an SMS from CoWIN saying his father Natwarlal Desai has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
His father passed away back in 2011.
Meanwhile, for the Suthar family, the errors continue to shock.
Dilip says he and his brother Vinod got the vaccine on May 1, the day India opened vaccination to the 18-44 age group, as walk-ins.
“The urban health centre staff called us saying that many 45 plus candidates who booked slots had not come, resulting in surplus vaccines that would get wasted,” he says.
Now, when Dilip tries to check his vaccination status, his phone number opens the registration on CoWIN in the name of one Meena Chamunda Suthar! “I am apprehensive that this may mar my access to a vaccination certificate which will be required to prove one’s vaccination status,” says Suthar.
His cousin Praveen’s phone number is also registered in the name of another woman, Meena Mistry.