Those above 50 will soon be able to self-register on CoWIN for jabs

Those above 50 will soon be able to self-register on CoWIN for jabs

Nisha.Nambiar@timesgroup.com

Pune:07.02.2021

The central health ministry will soon open up the CoWIN app for people aged 50 and above who wish to self-register for Covid vaccination.

On Friday, the ministry had said vaccinations for this category will start in March.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told TOI on Saturday the government will make the app public within a month. “Currently, Co-WIN access is restricted and is not available to the public. But we have one month to work on it and release it for citizens,” he said.

Bhushan said work is on to make the app more citizenfriendly. “We will be slowly revealing new features that will make it easy for those above 50 to register.”

Ram Sewak Sharma, chairman of the Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat Covid-19, had earlier told TOI that the citizen version of the app would incorporate the suggestions that were made for better, more user-friendly performance.

He said the app will include an “appointment” feature once it’s made public.

Suggestions have come in from states on how to improve the app’s user interface.

“Technology will not be an issue. The best citizencentric interface will be made available in the coming days whenever it goes public,” he said.

CoWIN — an extension of India’s existing vaccine intelligence system, eVIN (electronic vaccine intelligence network) — is an IT solution that helps plan, implement and monitor the ongoing Covid inoculation drive. Currently, access is limited to administrators and vaccinators at sites where jabs are being administered for those who are part of the first two priority groups — healthcare and frontline workers.

In its present form, the app packs certain key modules for administrators, beneficiary registration and status updation.

Frontline and healthcare workers need to be registered on CoWIN before they can receive their vaccines.