On 5th July during the CoWIN Global Conclave, India unveiled its very own CoWIN platform to the rest of the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the CoWIN platform during the conference, as the country offers it as a digital public asset to other countries so they can undertake their own COVID-19 inoculation efforts (IST). Various health and technology experts from different countries participated in the event, which was inaugurated by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. Around 50 countries have expressed interest in implementing CoWIN so far, including Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, and Uganda. Other countries, including Vietnam, Iraq, the Dominican Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, have expressed interest in learning more about the Co-WIN platform in order to install it in their own countries and conduct their own Covid programmes, according to sources.
The virtual CoWIN Global Conclave is a joint initiative by the Union ministries of health, external affairs and the NHA. It includes health and technology specialists from all across the world. Covid vaccination was developed in India as the key information technology (IT) system for strategizing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the vaccine. According to the NHA, many countries have recently expressed interest in adopting the platform. “India is excited to join hands with the world to win over COVID-19 together with Co-WIN. “Join us as we unfold the story behind the development of a scalable, inclusive and open platform called CoWIN, the tech backbone of India’s vaccination drive,” it said.
What is CoWIN and how does it work?
The CoWIN software, which stands for ‘COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network,’ is used to monitor and scale up the vast immunisation push. The CoWIN app is a repurposed version of eVIN (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network), an indigenously produced platform in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The application was developed as a cloud-based IT solution for Covid-19 planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation in India. The CoWIN programme not only assists the government in coordinating large vaccination campaigns, but it also assists health officials in tracking coronavirus vaccines in real time.
Beneficiaries can schedule a vaccination appointment through the e-portal. They can pick a day and time frame that suits them best. Beneficiaries can register with their phone numbers on the website. They will then be sent an OTP, which they must input into the required form. The beneficiary would then be prompted to provide their Aadhaar number before proceeding to book their immunisation appointment. The user can also add up to four family members to their profile and book slots for them. They can also download their certificate from the portal after a successful vaccination. To make travelling overseas easier for Indians, the portal also allows users to link their passport to their Covid-19 immunisation certificate.
