India offers vaccination portal CoWin to other countries, says Co-WIN Chairman

New Delhi: India, which embarked on the world’s largest vaccination drive in January this year, has been actively promoting its IT backbone, the CoWin vaccination portal to other countries to digitise their vaccination process. In an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, Co-WIN Chairman Dr Ram Sewak Sharma confirmed that several countries have approached India in setting up a similar vaccination portal there.

Sharma also dismissed any doubts over the privacy and safety of user data saying that the platform has been subjected to rigorous testing and no breach has been found in the application till date. Sharma said once the Covid-19 vaccine supply catches up with the demand, the benefits of Co-WIN will become furthermore apparent. Edited Excerpts:

Reporter: If we talk about the Co-Win portal, how far was it successful in supporting India in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic?

RS Sharma: Co-WIN has been playing an essential role in the fight against COVID-19 by being the technology backbone for one of the largest vaccination drives in the world. It is propelling equitable vaccine distribution and coverage. It also aids in recording Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI), which helps drive data-driven public health policy on vaccination.

Till 19th June 2021, Co-WIN has facilitated over 30.06 Cr registrations, both through online registrations and physical walk-ins. It has recorded 27.15 crore vaccination events, with at least 22.20 crore citizens getting at least one dose. Nearly 80 per cent of all the vaccines administered have been through physical walk-ins. There are over 103,000 vaccination centres that have been activated on Co-WIN till date to administer vaccinations to citizens. These statistics can be further divided by state and district on the Co-WIN dashboard to give an accurate image of the granular level of geographical coverage in the country.

Reporter: It is learnt that many countries approached you for setting up similar portals in their country. Which are the countries, and will India support those countries?

RS Sharma: We have received a formal request from the Indian High Commissioner in Nigeria to support Nigeria in the digitization efforts for their vaccination drive. We have received a nod from our Honourable PM and MEA to support our partner nations in whichever way possible. Based on this incoming interest, we have decided to actively reach out to our Missions abroad to help any country that may want to use Co-WIN for administering vaccination in their country.

Reporter: Is there any threat to the portal from cyber-attacks?

RS Sharma: There is no threat to the Co-WIN portal. The platform has been subjected to rigorous security testing and no breach has been found in the application till date. The standard protocols for encryption are being used, and the necessary measures have been taken to safeguard the open APIs from any cyber-attacks. It should be known that we do not allow anyone to access or procure any data on identity in bulk, or store it anywhere besides the Co-WIN servers. This not only reduces but prevents any possibilities of any data leak even being facilitated.

Reporter: How will Co-Win work, when the country is facing vaccine shortage?

RS Sharma: Co-WIN is a technology platform facilitating the COVID-19 vaccination drive. While providing technological capabilities for capacity building, it helps match demand and supply. Co-WIN aggregates demand and provides citizens with the opportunity to check if vaccination has become available from the comfort of their homes, instead of visiting multiple physical centres and putting their families and themselves at risk of contracting the virus. Once the supply catches up with the demand, the benefits of Co-WIN will become furthermore apparent.

Reporter: When Sputnik and other future vaccines come, does Co-Win remain the registration website?

RS Sharma: Co-WIN is vaccine/brand agnostic, therefore it can be used for administration of any brand of COVID vaccine, or for that matter, any other vaccination in the future. Vaccines are defined as a variable in the system, which has various parameters linked to it, such as supply, administration intervals and schedule, and authentication protocols.

Be it Sputnik, Pfizer BioNtech, Moderna or any other, information of the vaccine can be plugged into Co-WIN on the fly and the vaccine will be administered as seamlessly as Covaxin or Covishield.

Reporter: Can Co-Win meet the vaccination demand?

RS Sharma: For a system that cannot afford to fail as real lives are at stake, Co-WIN’s ability to sustain traffic of crores of users on a daily basis is commendable. As the scale of the platform in terms of registered users will further increase, Co-WIN’s sustainability is what will set it apart as a digital vaccination platform.

For instance, when the portal was opened for the age bracket of 18 to 44 years, the platform was able to handle 1.37 crore registrations, which translated into over 300 crore visits on the website, within 8 hours of being launched. As of date, Co-WIN is handling over a hundred crore visits on a daily basis. This is a true testament to the system’s robustness and ability to meet the demand.

Reporter: Can a person in Delhi schedule an appointment in Tamil Nadu or Northeast?

RS Sharma: Co-WIN does not draw any geographical constraints for citizens. An individual may have gotten their first dose in Delhi and might be in Tamil Nadu or Assam at the time of their second dose. They have the freedom to get their second dose at a place of their choice and convenience, depending on the availability of vaccination slots.

Co-WIN is built for the whole of India. This is the beauty of a digital system as it facilitates transparency and prevents any information asymmetry. It works uniformly across all states and regions, providing the same functionality to all vaccine administrators and citizens. Additionally, if states or organizations want to build bespoke solutions to cater to the specific needs of citizens, Co-WIN allows open APIs to further innovate on top of the existing system. However, the architecture ensures that all the data still flows uniformly through Co-WIN to maintain it as the single source of truth.

Reporter: After taking the first jab, can someone walk into the CVC for the second jab without registering through Co-Win?

RS Sharma: If a citizen has availed their first dose of the covid-19 vaccination, they are already registered on Co-WIN, whether it was through Physical walk-in or online registration. Therefore, when the citizen appears for their second dose of vaccination, they just need to mention their registered mobile number to the vaccinator and show the desired photo identification, and the vaccination record for their second dose will be generated effortlessly.