"No covid vaccination sessions were planned on Sunday 17th or Monday, January 18. So the question of cancellation does not arise. Covid vaccination sessions will be organised in the next week as per GOI guidelines," the media quoted the health department's official statement.
The clarification comes a day after it was reported COVID-19 vaccination had been temporarily suspended in the state till January 18.
The CoWIN app is being used to count the total number of beneficiaries. The app showed glitches on January 16, the first day of the vaccination drive, slowing the inoculation process in several places.
Earlier, state health minister Rajesh Tope had said that CoWin app has created problems everywhere in the country and the vaccination drive is being suspended in the state reported NDTV.
"We have decided to suspend the vaccination for the next two days. On January 8, when the dry run was conducted, and again today I specifically pointed out problems with the CoWIN app and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said he would look into it," Tope was quoted as saying.
The CoWIN app requires the health beneficiaries' data in real-time when they get the shot. The software is also supposed to create and send automated messages scheduling an appointment for vaccination.
Glitches Reported From Palghar
According to The Indian Express report, the glitches were observed in Palghar district on Saturday. The sub-district hospital in Jawhar, located in the tribal, hilly terrain of Palghar, was one of the few remote hospitals using the application.
The hospital superintendent informed all 100 beneficiaries about the issue with the software on Friday. The hospital immunised 67 health workers, all its staff, by evening. "This was possible because they were our staff and willing to wait. The real problem will come up when private health workers start coming or when we go deeper into villages to vaccinate," superintendent Dr Ramdas Mahad told
On Saturday, January 16, India began the world's largest vaccination drive, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched the programme. Nearly 1.91 lakh people were inoculated on the first day of vaccine drive, less than what the government had aimed, of over 3 lakh people at more than 3,000 vaccination centres.