Indian citizens can now include their birthdates in their vaccine certificate downloaded through CoWin if they opt to download the international travel certificate.
The original certificate still does not contain the birthdate of the recipient. The date of birth is considered to be an important component of digital vaccination certificates as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation. WHO has a dedicated Digital Documentation of COVID-19 Certificates: Vaccination Status (DDCC:VS)
This updated change was shared by Rakesh Sharma, the director of the National Health Authority which helms CoWin. He tweeted that the CoWin certificate now meets the WHO's DDCC:VS standards.
This change says Sharma will aid international travellers to validate their vaccination status across the world. It remains to be seen if this certificate will now help travellers avoid quarantine periods in UK that recognises Covishield as a valid, actively performing vaccine but enforces a mandatory ten-day quarantine on the vaccinated.
What Are The WHO's Standards For Vaccine Certificates?
The WHO has issued a document that chalks out all the components a country's COVID-19 certificate should contain for it to be recognised globally.
The document called the Digital Documentation of COVID Certificate: Vaccination Status (DDCC:VS) requires the name, date of birth, identification number, sex, and details of both doses.
Will It Reduce Mandatory Quarantine?
Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India had earlier tweeted that the country wanted to understand the workings of CoWin when asked why fully vaccinated people had to undergo mandatory quarantine in the UK.
India's CoWin certificate although allows citizens to update their certificates with their passport numbers but it did not have date of birth before this update. After this update, the certificate now matches the WHO's standards.
Whether this new update will bring about relaxation in the mandatory quarantine in UK needs to be seen. Both RS Sharma and Ellis had shared that the two governments are discussing ways to make travelling easier for Indian citizens. cow