Weeding out proxies is key, the sattes have been informed.
As India prepares to embark on an unprecedented mission of nationwide anti-Covid-19 vaccination beginning January 16, the Central government today appraised state governments of the logistics and nuances that will go into making the project a success. The virtual meeting held today between the state and Central officials primarily focused on the Co-WIN software that will be used to implement the programme.
Today's meeting was chaired by Ram Sewak Sharma, Chairman of the Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat COVID-19, and attended by the Principal Secretaries of all states as well as top Health Ministry officials. Mr Sharma is also a member of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of COVID-19.
Co-WIN will contain all the data of beneficiaries and will be used to track real-time updates on vaccinations across the country, the states were informed. Accessible only to officials now, the platform will soon be opened up for the general public for registrations.
States have been asked to keep digital records of who gets vaccinated by whom, when, and also which specific vaccine, since there is more than one product. Capturing of such data in real time is being deemed critical.
A key issue discussed was proxies, according to officials. Authorities must be cautious and ensure there are "no proxies" at all. The beneficiaries must hence be uniquely identified, the states have been told. Towards this, the Centre had advised urging those getting vaccinated to link their mobile numbers with Aadhaar. This will help not only with registration but also ease communication through SMS.