'Our overarching objective is to harness cyberspace for the growth and empowerment of people, not just of our own country, but for all humanity,' she asserted.
Tag: Co WIN
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Covid vaccine trial participants to be issued digital certificates through Co-WIN
By PTI
NEW DELHI: People who participated in COVID-19 vaccine trials will be issued digital certificates through the Co-WIN portal, the Union health ministry said on Monday.
In a statement, the ministry said it received several requests from trial participants for issuing certificates through Co-WIN.
“In a welcome initiative, digital #COVID19 vaccination certificates will now be issued to the clinical trial participants of COVISHIELD & COVAXIN through Co-WIN. The nation thanks them for their incredible commitment & contribution to COVID-19 vaccine research & treatment,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted.
“The participants can download their individual certificates through Co-WIN Portal, Aarogya Setu, Digilocker or the UMANG Application,” he said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in partnership with the Serum Institute of India (SII) had conducted phase II/III bridging studies of Covishield from August 2020.
Phase III efficacy clinical trials for Covaxin were conducted by Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) from November 2020.
The ministry said it was decided that vaccination certificates may be issued to such participants who were administered the vaccines during these trials after the trials were unblinded.
The ICMR was designated as the nodal agency for the collection of vaccination data for such participants by the ministry.
“The ICMR had provided the data for 11,349 such persons to the MoHFW. Digital vaccination certificates have now been issued through Co-WIN to such persons who participated in these studies/trials of Covishield and Covaxin,” the statement said.
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Covid vaccine certificate now available for Covishield, Covaxin trial participants on Co-WIN
By Express News Service
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday said that trial participants of phase 2 and 3 bridging studies for Covishield and efficacy study for Covaxin—a total of 11,349 individuals– will now be able to download their vaccine certificates from CoWIN portal.
The ICMR in partnership with Serum Institute of India had conducted phase 2/3 bridging studies of Covishield from August, 2020 while phase 3 efficacy clinical trials for Covaxin were conducted by Bharat Biotech from November, 2020.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare said that it had received several requests from the trial participants for digital vaccination certificates through CoWIN.
“It was decided that vaccination certificates may be issued to such participants who were administered the vaccines during these trials, after the studies were unblinded,” it said.
The ICMR was designated by the government as the nodal agency for collection of vaccination data for such participants and the agency had provided the data for 11,349 such persons to the health ministry.
Digital vaccination certificates have now been issued through Co-WIN, to such participants.
These participants would be able to download their individual certificates through Co-WIN Portal, Aarogya Setu, Digilocker or UMANG Application.
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No question of anyone being left out in Covid vaccination due to digital divide: Centre to SC
By PTI
NEW DELHI: There is no question of anyone being left out in the COVID-19 vaccination drive due to “digital divide” and the Co-WIN system is designed to provide required flexibilities to states and Union Territories to overcome barriers to access, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Saturday.In an affidavit filed in the apex court in the suo motu case on distribution of essential supplies and services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre said there is “no impediment” on vaccination based on availability or otherwise of digital device or internet.
Online registration, prior self-registration and booking of appointment on Co-WIN is also not mandatory to avail vaccination services, it stated.
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud had in its May 31 order observed that a vaccination policy exclusively relying on digital portal Co-WIN for inoculating those aged between 18 to 44 years would be unable to meet its target of universal immunisation due to “digital divide” and marginalised sections of society would bear the brunt of “accessibility barrier”.
“It is submitted that the Co-WIN system is inclusive and has been designed to provide the necessary features and the required flexibilities to states/UTs and their officials to overcome the challenges posed by various state specific problems and barriers to access,” the government said in its affidavit.
“There is no question of any person being left out due to any digital divide. Thus, it may not be correct to conclude that the technology or methodology adopted is resulting in exclusion of some persons or any particular class,” it said.
It is submitted that, as on June 23, that of the 32.22 crore beneficiaries registered on Co-WIN, 19.13 crore (59 per cent) beneficiaries have been registered in the onsite — walk-in or non-digital — mode, it said.
The affidavit said if a person having no access to either internet or digital devices or does not wish to self-register wants to be vaccinated, he or she can visit the nearest vaccination centre where a health worker would register him in the device of the respective centre on the Co-WIN platform and the person would be vaccinated.
It said that all the necessary features to ensure that every eligible individual has access to vaccination, regardless of any of physical, digital or socio-economic barriers to access, have been incorporated in Co-WIN.
The affidavit said that on-site registrations, also known as walk-in registration, and vaccinations have been permitted for all beneficiaries through a May 23 circular.
“Therefore, on and from May 23, 2021, any person above the age group of 18 years can visit any vaccination centre and get vaccinated without himself/herself pre-registering on Co-WIN platform,” it said.
The affidavit said it is understandable that rural and tribal areas in the country have lower access to digital mediums and internet, and the Centre is fully cognisant of the same.
The Centre, being aware of the situation, has adopted various other modes to provide citizens with the vaccine in such areas, it said.
The affidavit said that “as reported by states on Co-WIN, in the period from May 1, 2021 till June 23, 2021, out of the total 1,31,204 Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs) providing vaccination services, 33,342 are operated at sub-health centres, 28,168 at the primary health centres and 9,932 at the community health centres, amounting to 54.45 per cent of the total vaccination centres”.
“The CVCs at the sub-health centres, the primary health centres and the community health centres are in rural areas,” it said and also mentioned that a feature for tagging vaccination centres as rural or urban has been introduced in Co-WIN with effect from June 5.
“Out of the total 1,24,969 vaccination centres so far classified by state governments on Co-WIN as rural centre or urban centre, 93,044 vaccination centres i.e.74.45 per cent, are located in rural areas,” it said.
The affidavit said that according to data available on Co-WIN, as on June 23, out of the total 29.68 crore vaccine doses recorded on Co-WIN, 23.12 crore doses (nearly 78 per cent of all vaccine doses) have been administered through onsite or walk-in vaccination.
It said that as on June 23, 1,50,988 persons without identity cards have been vaccinated as per the prevailing system.
The affidavit said that “39,01,126 beneficiaries have been vaccinated through the functionality of near-to-home vaccination sessions, introduced recently”.
It said that according to data available on Co-WIN, as on June 23, vaccination per million population in tribal districts is better than the national average.
The government in its affidavit said that “97 out of 176 tribal districts are performing better than all India vaccination coverage” and added that “more walk-in vaccinations are happening in tribal districts as compared to the national average”.
It said in order to further improve access for citizens as well as field functionaries operating the Co-WIN portal, multi-lingual citizen and user interfaces are now available in 12 languages on Co-WIN, including Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Telugu, Oriya, Gurumukhi, Bengali and English.
The affidavit said that several measures have already been taken to improve the access for those who are visually challenged.
“Directions are given to all district level officers for providing assistance to differently abled persons for matter related to COVID-19,” it said, adding that “in addition, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently issued directions to states/UTs to facilitate differently abled persons and senior citizens in Covid accination”.
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India to share its CoWIN success story with countries showing interest
By PTI
NEW DELHI: India will share the development story of Co-WIN, the digital platform that helped it launch and implement a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme, with more than 20 countries that have shown interest in adopting the portal to run their own inoculation drives.In a joint initiative by the Union ministries of health, external affairs and the National Health Authority, a virtual Co-WIN Global Conclave will be organised on June 30, which will see participation from health and technology experts representing countries across the globe.
Several countries such as Vietnam, Peru, Mexico, Iraq, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Ukraine, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates and Uganda have expressed interest in learning about the Co-WIN technology to run their own Covid vaccination programmes, sources said.
When contacted, Dr R S Sharma, Chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (Co-WIN) and CEO of the National Health Authority, said several countries have expressed interest in the Co-WIN platform, which is being used to run the world’s largest Covid vaccination drive.
“At a global conclave, India will share its experience with regards to universal vaccination to fight COVID-19 through the digital platform. India developed Co-WIN as the central IT system for strategising, implementing, monitoring and evaluating Covid vaccination,” he told PTI.
Co-WIN or the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network serves as the technological backbone of the country’s mass vaccination campaign, Sharma said.
“In such times of crisis, utmost speed and smooth coordination are paramount. We need to balance these while also triaging fairly and providing flexibility to vaccination centres. This is hard for any country but an even harder challenge given our population size and diversity,” he explained.
In the future, many sensitive locations and international borders may require vaccine passports or vaccine certificates.
This means individuals need provable ways of recording the date, time and brand of the vaccine administered to them, Sharma said.
The Covid vaccination programme was launched on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) inoculated in the first phase.
The states and Union territories had to create and share lists of the HCWs and FLWs to be uploaded in bulk.
At this point of time, there was no online appointment system.
The second phase of the vaccination programme saw the target audience doubling, official sources said.
Vaccination was opened for citizens aged 60 years and above and 45 years and above with comorbidities.
This was followed by vaccination opening for all citizens aged 45 years and above.
With a larger audience, the online self-registration and appointment system was launched for the first time.
Changes were also incorporated in the vaccinator modules to accommodate larger crowds, the differentiation based on age.
Further, capabilities of data reporting and analysis were also added, along with a revamped view for dashboards.
The third phase was the most challenging phase of the development, the sources said.
With vaccination being opened to all citizens above the age of 18 years (86.5 crore in total), online registrations became a necessity for managing demand at the vaccination centres.
More importantly, to handle nearly 100 crore visits or visitors on the portal, significant developments were undertaken for capacity building to make the back-end of the system robust.
To ensure inclusivity, Co-WIN was also adapted for lingual diversity and disability friendliness.
After Co-WIN was operationalised on January 16, it has scaled rapidly amidst multiple policy changes and developments.
After the launch of its third version, Co-WIN had already witnessed over 20 crore registrations by early May.
This made it the fastest tech platform in the world to amass the milestone in a record four months, an official source said.
At the time of the filing of the story, Co-WIN had witnessed 31,06,84,894 registrations and over 28.33 crore Covid vaccine doses were administered in the country.
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Fearing exclusion of smartphone-less tribals, Jharkhand seeks to use own app for vaccination
By PTI
RANCHI: Fearing exclusion of a large chunk of the tribal people in the ongoing vaccination drive against Covid-19 due to non-availability of smartphones among many of them and access to internet in remote areas, the Jharkhand government wants to use its own “more user-friendly” app for registration.It has been made mandatory for people in the 18-45 age group to register themselves at Co-WIN to get the vaccine.
Jharkhand government officials, however, said that JHAR-WIN, the state’s app, has an edge over Co-Win in many ways and it is suited for a state where a large number of people are poor tribals living in villages.
The JHAR-WIN app works both online and offline and is backed up with a call centre to facilitate registration of low-digitally literate population group and can provide on the spot registration at vaccination centres, officials said.
Considering the issue of non-delivery of SMS/OTP and to make it more user-friendly, OTP authentication has been removed in JHAR-WIN which is available in both English and Hindi, they said.
“The Co-WIN platform and the process of registration by design perpetuate digital exclusion and inequality especially in a state like Jharkhand.
With a high tribal and marginal population mostly in rural areas and the rising threat of the virus in villages, it is necessary to ensure no one is left out, an official in the Chief Minister’s Office told PTI.
Jharkhand has one of the largest tribal populations in the country inhabited by over 32 Schedule Tribes and other marginalised indigenous people.
According to the 2011 census, the state has 86.45 lakh tribal people, 27 per cent of the total population of 3.29 crore.
“The state’s application/portal with a dedicated call centre and help desk will ensure each person is included irrespective of digital literacy or skill,” the CMO official said.
The Jharkhand government has filed a plea in the Supreme Court praying for a direction to the Centre to allow the state to use its own app and portal for registration for Covid-19 vaccination, the official said.
The official said that following the commencement of Phase 3 vaccination for the 18-45 years age group, Jharkhand is facing a major difficulty in registering potential beneficiaries as there are issues of digital literacy and digital exclusion, apart from glitches in the portal especially in rural areas.
Unlike Co-WIN where slot booking is made mandatory for getting the jab, JHAR-WIN allows a person to directly reach the nearest vaccination centre and avail facility, the official said.
The option for walk-in, as was available in case of vaccination for 45 years plus population, is not there for the age group of 18-45 years which comprises approximately 1.4 crore in Jharkhand.
The state says that its application for registration for vaccination is user-friendly, more practical and best suited for Jharkhand as its scheduled areas have seen low human development indices, backwardness, remoteness and poverty, and social indicators in its tribal pockets are inferior to the state average.
“Being a state with heavy forest cover and tough terrain, Jharkhand has many villages that comes under network shadow area. Unlike Co-WIN, Jharkhand’s State Portal (http://amritvahini.in) will support people in the remotest of the areas irrespective of network connectivity.
“Rural and tribal population of the state can easily reach vaccination centres and get benefits of it with the same ease as urban population making ‘vaccination for all’ true in both letter and spirit,” the official added.
Unlike Co-WIN that mandates Captcha authentication which is image-based and requires a good internet connection and a tech-savvy person, Jharkhand’s state portal has removed it making it faster and easy to use, he said.
Battling a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases during the second wave, the state government has extended the lockdown till May 27.
The state continued to show easing of coronavirus rage with the state reporting 60 new COVID deaths and 2,056 positive cases on Friday, a health department bulletin said.
The total fatalities have risen to 4,714, while the state’s caseload spiked to 3,24,884.
Till four-five days back, the state was logging more than 100 casualties due to coronavirus and around 5000 infections daily.
The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state now stands at 90.38 per cent, better than the national average of 86.70 per cent.
Capital Ranchi which has been struggling with a high number of cases saw 14 deaths while East Singhbhum which has also been consistently recording high fatalities reported eight deaths.
No deaths have been reported from Dumka, Latehar, Pakur and Simdega during the last 24 hours, the bulletin said.
The mineral-rich state now has 26,511 active COVID-19 cases, while 2,93,659 patients have recovered from the infection, it said.
Fatalities in Bokaro were recorded at 9 during the last 24 hours while four deaths were recorded from Khunti.
Giridih and Godda saw three deaths each during the last 24 hours.
Dhanbad, Garhwa, Gumla, Hazaribag and Jamtara recorded two deaths each while one death each was recorded in Chatra, Deoghar, Koderma, Lohardaga, Palamu, Ramgarh, Sahebganj, Sariakela and West Sinbhum.
Battling a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases during the second wave, the state government has extended the lockdown till May 27.
Restrictions with stricter provisions, including seven days mandatory quarantine for people visiting the state, are now in place.
Altogether, 79,44,728 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in Jharkhand thus far, including 50,504 since Thursday, it added.
The mortality rate in the state remained higher at 1.45 per cent as against the nation’s 1.10 per cent.
Battling a severe second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Jharkhand government has set up a task force at block level to map and more effectively contain the virus.
Adopting a multi-pronged strategy, it began the massive public health survey exercise Wednesday which will be carried out till May 25.
In a bid to protect its citizens from the deadly virus, the Jharkhand government had on May 14 launched a free vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18 to 44 years.
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Covishield new rule tweaks won’t affect pre-booked slots: Government
By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Sunday clarified that already booked appointments for second dose of Covishield vaccine will remain valid and the same will not be cancelled on the Co-WIN platform.It, however, said requisite changes have now been done in the Co-WIN digital portal, as a result of which further online or on-site appointments will not be possible if the period after first dose date for a beneficiary is less than 84 days.
The Centre had on May 13 extended the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks based on the recommendations by the COVID Working Group chaired by N K Arora.“The Government of India has communicated this change to states and UTs. The Co-WIN digital portal has also been reconfigured to reflect this extension of interval for two doses of Covishield,” the Union health ministry said.
“However, there have been reports in a section of the media suggesting that people who had pre-booked their appointments for the second dose in less than 84 days on Co-WIN are being turned back from vaccination centres without getting the second dose of Covishield,” it said.
“Additionally, already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield will remain valid and are not being cancelled by Co-WIN. Further, the beneficiaries are advised to reschedule their appointments for a later date beyond the 84th day from the date of first dose of vaccination,” the ministry added.
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Goa: Co-WIN snag halts vaccination drive for senior citizens
By PTI
PANAJI: A snag in the Co-WIN portal affected the COVID-19 vaccination process for senior citizens at private hospitals in Goa in initial hours on Tuesday, a Health official said.The portal developed a glitch soon after the process for vaccination began after 9 AM, forcing many senior citizens who had gathered at the hospitals to take the first dose to leave.
“As the snag stalled the entire process in the first one hour, several senior citizens had to go back. We regret the inconvenience caused to them,” he said.
The process restarted at 2.30 pm after the snag was fixed, the official said.
Meanwhile, the Goa health department on Tuesday allowed 15 private hospitals to administer COVID-19 shots to the people who are eligible under the latest drive.
The government initially allowed only government hospitals to conduct vaccination when the second drive covering senior citizens and the people in the age group of 45 to 59 years with comorbidities began on Monday.
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‘Co-WIN app meant only for administrators’: Centre shares how to register on portal
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry said on Monday that the Co-WIN app on Play Store is meant for use only by administrators, and that registration and booking for appointment for COVID-19 vaccination has to be done through the portal.This was clarified by the ministry amid reported glitches in doing registrations as India opened up vaccination for senior citizens and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities.
“Registration and booking for appointment for #COVID19 vaccination is to be done through #CoWIN Portal: www.cowin.gov.in.There is NO #CoWIN App for beneficiary registration.The App on Play Store is for administrators only,” the ministry tweeted.
The government had announced on Wednesday that everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get COVID-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals.
Citizens can register and book an appointment for vaccination, anytime and anywhere, using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal www.cowin.gov.in or through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu.
There is also a walk-in provision for the beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated, it said.
The eligible beneficiaries can choose the centre of their choice and book an appointment based on the slots available.
All citizens that are aged or will attain the age of 60 or more as on January 1, 2022, are eligible to register, in addition to all such citizens that are aged or will attain the age of 45 to 59 years as on January 1, 2022, and have any of the specified 20 comorbidities.
Citizens can register at the Co-WIN portal through their mobile number, said the ministry as it also released a user manual to handhold the citizens to register and schedule an appointment for vaccination, according to a guidance document issued by ministry.
A one time password (OTP) verification will be done prior to registration to ensure veracity of the mobile number and after registration, an account will be created on Co-WIN for the person.
The person can access (login) account on Co-WIN using the mobile phone number used at the time of registration.
Features for adding beneficiaries, editing their details and for booking appointment(s) will be available in the citizen’s account, the document stated.
The citizen can delete only beneficiaries as have been added by him/her.
“If one out of the four beneficiaries registered in an account is vaccinated, only three registrations are left, and so on. “Till the time of vaccination, all the records of registration and appointment can be edited/deleted by the person making the registration. Only when a person gets vaccinated, the record is locked and cannot be edited/deleted,” the document stated.
A beneficiary then has to select the ID card type and provide ID card number.
The photo ID card number for each such beneficiary must be different.
Either of the following photo identity documents can be used by citizens for availing of online registration – Aadhaar card/letter, electoral photo identity card (EPIC), passport, driving license, PAN Card, NPR smart card or pension document with a photograph.
If the age of the beneficiary is from 45 to 59 years, the beneficiary will be prompted to confirm if he/she has any specified comorbidity.
In such cases, the beneficiary will also be advised to bring the comorbidity certificate signed by a Registered Medical Practitioner.
Once all the necessary details are recorded by the beneficiary, registration is completed and an acknowledgement (registration slip/token) will be sent to beneficiary on his registered mobile number.
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COVID-19 vaccination drive suspended in Maharashtra till Monday due to Co-Win app glitches
By PTI
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Saturday evening announced suspension of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state till Monday owing to problems in the Co-Win app.The app has been created by the Centre for managing registration for inoculation. A nationwide inoculation drive for coronavirus began on Saturday morning.
“Not just in Maharashtra, everywhere in the country this app created problems in the execution of vaccination drive. We have decided to suspend the vaccination for the next two days,” state public health minister Rajesh Tope told PTI.
“On January 8, when a dry run was conducted, and again today I specifically pointed out problems with the Co-Win app and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said he will look into it,” the minister said.
Earlier in the day, a senior health department official in Maharashtra said that owing to problems in the App, text messages were not sent to many persons who were supposed to get the vaccine shot on Saturday.
“The state government had planned inoculation of 28,500 health workers on the first day but the problems in Co-WIN, which were noticed on late Friday night, could not be fixed till Saturday evening,” the official said.
As many as 18,425 beneficiaries, or 65 percent of the target for the first day, were given the shot across the state on Saturday, he said.
“We could not use it to generate SMSes to intimate health workers that they should come to the inoculation center to receive the jab. In the absence of SMS, the health worker cannot come to the center for inoculation,” he said.
Out of 36 districts, Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban districts reported the lowest 47 and 49 percent inoculation of the target, the data showed.
Hingoli district recorded 100 percent vaccination as all 200 health workers who were supposed to be inoculated on the first day received the jab, officials said.