India to hold global webinar for countries interested in CoWIN platform

The Centre on Tuesday informed that it will soon hold a global webinar for countries interested in CoWIN platform, digitalised platform used for registration and appointment for Covid vaccination.

During a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that a large number of countries are interested in taking the technology and using it and that the government was planning to hold a global webinar in which such potentially interested countries would be invited.

“In spite of criticism at times, CoWIN has mostly received praises. It has established itself as a very robust, all-inclusive, simple IT-based platform. Therefore, a large number of countries are interested in taking the technology and using it,” he said.

“The National Health Authority, Union Health Ministry and MEA together are planning a global webinar in which such potentially interested countries would be invited and we would be more than willing to share the technology and solution with them,” the Health Secretary added.

The Health Ministry recently explained how the digital platform is helping India’s Covid vaccination programme. It says CoWIN encompasses all constituents of the vaccination process. Ranging from validation of the supply of authentic vaccines and managing vaccination centres to registration and obtaining certification by citizens, the entire value chain is administered through the CoWIN platform.

The CoWIN platform is not only citizen facing, but also has modules that assist vaccination centres and administrators in the physical operations and management.

CoWIN helps person discover and register for vaccine slots. After the first dose, CoWIN aids citizens to track the schedule of vaccination based on the brand of vaccine by issuing provisional certification. This enables vaccine administrators to keep a check on those who are either jumping their schedule or lack the necessary information around it. Post the second dose, a centralised digital certificate is issued across the country that can be universally authenticated.

CoWIN further enables vaccine providers to publish their schedule of vaccination based on availability, and verify citizens at point of vaccination, while recording the event of vaccination and any Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI). The AEFI is crucial for making data-driven public health policy decisions.

Additionally, at the time of vaccination, only name, age and gender of any individual are recorded, along with information on the vaccine and vaccination centre. These details of incidence are used to evaluate and ensure the coverage of the vaccination drive at a granular geographical level. Live Mint