With authentication mediums ranging from Aadhar cards to QR code verification, India is prepping to welcome vaccines in order to start the administration drive. The government is developing the CoWIN app that will the prime platform used in the drive.
Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network or the CoWIN app for short will have features including SMS verification for the administration of the vaccine in a minimum of 12 regional and global languages. The application and its various features are going to be used for managing the mass vaccination procedure after the nation approved 2 vaccines for emergency use.
Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield developed by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin are all set to release its own vaccine to allow the government to inoculate people who wish to get the shot. However, as informed earlier, the team of healthcare workers and others in the frontline battling the pandemic will be given the vaccine first. This includes police officers, doctors, healthcare providers and others.
To prevent malpractice, an automated allocation will be done through the government-developed CoWIN app, according to the Health Ministry.
Plans are underway to design a unique healthyidentity for people wishing to get administered. Following this, a close track record will be maintained to collect the data if any adverse effects are seen in the body of a vaccinated person.
Serving as a waiting line, individuals interested in getting vaccinated will receive SMS in 12 languages. This will also be sent to health care providers inoculating the public. Post the administration, a QR code confirming their shot, carrying the vaccination certificate, will be issued to all people. This can be saved in mobile phones and used to show authorities whenever required.
Government’s DigiLocker, the app used to store documents, can also be used to save these certificates. Moreover, a 24*7 helpline will also be in motion.
As of now, only officials have access to the app and commoners cannot register themselves on it. However, when it is developed completely and begins functioning, it will have 4 modules namely beneficiary registration, vaccination and beneficiary acknowledgement, user administrator module and status update.
As far as the healthcare workers and medical frontline workers are concerned, the government said that their data has already been uploaded on the app and there isn’t a need for their registration again. It contains the data of 75 lakh health officials who stand first to receive the shot.
Post its launch, it will offer 3 options for registering including self-registration, individual registration, where an official will be assisting the person to register, and bulk upload. The method by which the individual registration would be done hasn’t been mentioned yet but it is assumed to be through the organization of camps where interested people may come and file their names.
“For data of those above 50, we will refer to the electoral rolls and feed that data into CoWIN. We will then open it for public. If an individual finds that his or her name is not there they can approach the district or block officer and can get their name registered. They can also self-register. Those below 50 who have cardiac diseases or cancer, they can upload their medical certificate into the system,” said Dr Suneela Garg, member of the Delhi COVID-19 task force.
Along with numerous dry runs executed to test the software, 90,000 people from 700 districts have been trained to handle the software for the massive drive.
For those in the high-risk group, slots will be provided automatically by the app. This can then be used by District Magistrates to decide the date when the vaccination is to be held.
