THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will issue Covid-19 vaccination certificates to people traveling to foreign countries where it is mandatory.
Various foreign countries demand vaccination certificates with the passport number of the visitor for travel clearance. This has come as a setback to people who have produced IDs other than their passports for registration on the CoWIN, the Central government's portal for vaccination registration.
Though the state government had flagged the issue to the Centre, there wasn't any reply. Now, as per an order issued by Health Secretary Rajan Khobragade on Friday, the state government will give a certificate in the prescribed format to people who have taken both the jabs.
In a footnote in the format, it is said Covishield and Covaxin have been granted emergency use authorization by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation of India.
The vaccination certificate with the person's passport number would be issued to "a person who wishes to go get travel clearance and requires such certificates".
The state also decided to reduce the gap for the second dose to four to six weeks for those who want to travel abroad. The district medical officer has been authorized as the competent authority to issue the certificate. Since WHO has already cleared Covishield, the same may be given as preference to people traveling abroad. A person who has taken Covishield and wishes to get travel clearance will be eligible for a second dose of the Covishield vaccine after four to six weeks of the first jab. They will be provided Covishield vaccines from the stock purchased directly by the state.
Since the CoWIN portal does not permit administering the second dose of Covishield within a period of less than 12 weeks, this will be recorded separately by the district health department. The district officers are asked to verify any of the following documents to provide the preference vaccination. They are: a valid visa, an admission document for students, and a document of job confirmation or a work permit.
The officers have also been asked to check whether the destination country mandates vaccination for travel clearance. The state government had recently included students and others who require vaccination for traveling to a foreign country in the priority vaccination category.
On Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking measures for a continuous supply of vaccines.
The letter said that half the population of persons above the age of 45 are yet to be covered with at least one dose. Only 22 percent of those who received the first dose have been given the second dose. The state has a total of 1.5 crore beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group.
The state placed a purchase order for one crore doses, but received only 8.84 lakh. Because of the limited supply, the state is giving vaccines only to certain priority groups like persons with comorbidities and frontline workers.
The state used to administer 2.5 lakh vaccine doses a day when the supply was regular. Now due to the limited supply, the potential of the system is not fully utilised, he said.