CoWIN to go global today, 50 countries show interest
Various health and technology experts from different countries are expected to participate in the event, which will be inaugurated by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will address the CoWIN global conclave, where countries who have shown interest in the government’s digital platform will be given an opportunity to adopt it. The platform is being used in India to help people register for vaccination against Covid-19, book a slot and download vaccination certificates.
As many as 50 countries including Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama and Uganda have shown interest in adopting the CoWin platform. Various health and technology experts from different countries are expected to participate in the event, which will be inaugurated by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Foreign secretary HV Shringla, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Dr RS Sharma, the CEO of the National Health Authority (NHA), are also expected to speak at the event.
The conclave aims to share India’s experience with regards to universal vaccination to fight Covid-19 through CoWIN, the NHA said in a statement posted on its website.
The event, being organised in a joint initiative by the Union ministry of health, external affairs and the NHA, aims to share India’s experience with regards to universal vaccination to fight Covid-19 through Co-WIN.
The full form of CoWIN is Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work. It was introduced by the central government in January when the vaccination drive against Covid-19 began in the country. It is a website for beneficiaries and for officials associated with the vaccination process, there is a different mobile application as well.
The e-portal allows beneficiaries to book a vaccination slot. They can choose a day and time slot as per their preference. The beneficiaries can register at the website with their phone number. They will then receive an OTP to be entered in the required field. The beneficiary will then be asked to enter their Aadhaar details and can move forward to book their vaccination slot.
It also allows the user to add four family members in their profile and book slots for them as well.
After successful vaccination, they can also download their certificate from the portal.
To facilitate Indians planning to travel abroad, the platform also offers the option of linking one’s passport with that of the Covid-19 vaccine certificate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the country’s flagship Covid-19 vaccination application, CoWIN, will now be open source, with its software available to all countries across the world looking to bolster their digital systems to combat the pandemic.
“India’s technology platform for Covid-19 vaccination, CoWIN, will now be open source,” Modi said. “It will be available to any and all countries. The platform has been used to administer 350 million doses so far.”
The Prime Minister was speaking at the CoWIN global conclave organised by the government wherein health and technology experts representing different countries across the globe will be speaking.
Modi said that in the fight against the pandemic, everyone needed to come together and share their experiences. “India has been committed to its experiences, expertise and resources with the global community despite constraints,” he said. “Technology is integral to our fight against Covid and software is one area where there have not been many constraints. Our Covid tracking and tracing app (Aarogya Setu) was made open source last year. The best hope for humanity to emerge successfully from the pandemic is to adopt digitisation.”
He added that India’s vaccination strategy was made keeping a digital approach in mind, especially considered the value of each dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. “It is important to ensure each dose is tracked and wastage is minimized,” he said. “No one will need a fragile piece of paper to prove that they have been vaccinated as it all available online.”
The PM also highlighted that CoWIN could be customised according to local needs. RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority (NHA), last week said that many countries had expressed an interest in the vaccination platform. “#CoWIN has become popular! Over 50 countries from across Central Asia, Latin America & Africa, are interested in this #technology. @PMOIndia has directed us to create an open-source version of #CoWIN free of cost to any interested country,” Sharma tweeted on June 28.
The PM also condoled the loss of lives due to Covid-19 across the world, adding that there has been no parallel to such a pandemic in 100 years. “Experience shows that no nation however powerful it is, can solve a challenge like this in isolation,” the Prime Minister said.
India kicked off its vaccination drive on January 16. While vaccines were initially made available to frontline workers, vaccines are now being made available to all over the age of 18 free of cost at government run vaccination centres.
