I used my Aadhar ID proof for my first dose of Covishield vaccine at a private hospital in Chennai. The certificate was downloadable from Aarogyasetu, the Indian govt app for Covid and also from Cowin website. My beneficiary ID was mentioned in the certificate alongwith my ID proof. Authentication was enabled with QR code scanning.
For my second dose, the hospital informed me that due to some technical glitch, my first used ID would be inadmissible. I was asked to submit a different ID proof. So I presented my Voter ID for final dose upon which I received an SMS alert that I was fully vaccinated with link for download. The latest and final dose vaccine proof certificate was also downloadable from Aaroyasetu apart from Cowin website as earlier. The only problem was that, in my first certificate, as per my Aadhar proof my name is complete with surname. In the second one, the beneficiary ID was different and the name of the vaccinated reflected my first name only without surname, based on my voter ID submitted. (Voter IDs generally give our first names and surnames separately)
Now there seems to be conflict between the two certificates as both mention two different IDs and beneficiaries. Year of birth however is the same although no complete date of birth is mentioned. Also the second and conclusive vaccination certificate proof carries my name without my surname as I have stated earlier. The regular ID most of us use is Aadhar. Voter ID or PAN Card or Driving Licence (DL) or even Passport are mostly viewed as supplementary IDs while Aadhar is mandatory everywhere. I am at a fix now therefore. Does this mean that I have to carry my voter ID as citizenship proof for my foreign travels to flash to the airlines or foreign immigrations. Normally I carry always my Aadhar ID. My passport name and my Aadhar name are identical whereas my voter ID drops my surname. How to prove to anyone that these are all my concrete ID proofs. Variation with my passport ID is a headache.
Hopefully Govt of India fixes this software glitch soon as I understand more number of the vaccinated are concerned about this conflicting certification. A friend who used same Aadhar ID for both doses says she received certification for the final dose that mentioned it as first dose once again.
Covid vaccine certification is going to play a big role in Medical Insurance/Health Insurance settlements in future. Therefore diligent care needs to be taken in certification with proper ID reference and beneficiary ID created for the purpose. One single ID must be taken into cognizance for both doses.
In my case, I wonder if it will be possible for me to correlate both the certificates. Can we add our Aadhar ID proof as well to the final certificate. After all this is digital certification. There must be someway to relate both certificates conclusively.
Lots of confusions persist.
Mostly those who are not concerned with foreign travel have not much to complain. In India, all ID proofs are valid generally.
But those of us who may need to travel abroad in future are now concerned as any name mismatching can put us into trouble leading to unnecessary quarantine procedures despite our vaccination. In short, the discrepancy can invalidate our vaccine certification.
I hope everyone pays attention to this vital info.
For second dose of your covid vaccine, please take a different ID compared to your first submitted ID. I suggest we can consider our passport ID for this purpose if we have travel in mind. Please do not present any ID that will be in conflict with your passport ID (for the final dose). As the final ID is what will reflect in our final vaccine certification, it will be prudent to present our passport ID for the second dose.
How to differentiate between the first and final dose vaccine certificates in India: The first dose certificate mentions the date for the second dose vaccination. If there is no such data in your certificate, then it must be the final certificate.
vijiravindran's 