Centre modifies CoWIN app to address lower vaccination

NEW DELHI:  Amid reports of low turnout of beneficiaries for Covid-19 vaccinations and wastage of vaccines, the Centre has modified the CoWIN app, the platform driving the immunisation drive, to allow registered but non-allocated individuals to take the shots.

This new feature will permit states to accommodate walk-ins, especially at centres where less than 100 people per day, as planned, are taking the jabs. 

“While the average vaccination sessions allowed per site are 100, in a majority of the states, fewer people were turning up as a result of which a large number of vaccines were getting wasted,” said an official in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

“Therefore, following requests by the states, we have created a provision in the app to also accommodate registered beneficiaries scheduled to take the jab on other dates.”

The pace of the vaccination, since the launch on January 16, however, has been slower than expected and till Thursday 10,40,014 beneficiaries had taken either Covishield or Covaxin across India.

The sources in the government also said that the Centre may allow self-registration by the elderly and those with comorbidities on the CoWINplatform for faster and easier enrolment to receive a shot of the vaccine.

“An Aadhaar-based enrolment process could also be rolled out for the elderly and those with comorbidities on the CoWIN platform, which may be integrated with the widely used Aarogya Setu app,” said an official.

As per the plan, the CoWIN  platform will allow the public to access certain features — only those required for enrolment and vaccination and not the complex back-end operations — on the Aarogya Setu app. 

Aarogya Setu app, the single-window interface for health-related updates related to Covid-19 launched by the Centre in April last year, has been downloaded by over 17 million users. 

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, while launching a major communication campaign to address hesitance shown by people towards the vaccines and misinformation, said all eminent doctors of well-known hospitals have taken the vaccine and praised the exercise for its desired end. 

“It is only a handful of vested political interests who are spreading rumours,” he said. Vardhan added that “the paradox is that countries across globe are asking us for access to the vaccines while a section of our own is fomenting misinformation and doubt for narrow political ends.”

PLAN TO INOCULATE 30 CRORE PEOPLE IN 6-8 MONTHS

The country plans to vaccinate around 30 crore people with two doses each in the first six to eight months of the year.

The recipients include 3 crore doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, to be followed by people who are either over 50 years of age or have illnesses that make them vulnerable to Covid-19.

The pace of the vaccination, since the launch on January 16, however, has been slower than expected and till Thursday 10,40,014 beneficiaries had taken either Covishield or Covaxin across India