Proud to say that CoWIN is fastest tech platform in world: RS Sharma

By Sahil Pandey
New Delhi [India], July 5 : Chief executive officer of National Health Authority (NHA) and chairman of the CoWIN panel RS Sharma on Monday said he is proud that CoWIN has become the fastest tech platform in the world.
"It fills me with pride to share with you that CoWIN has become the fastest tech platform in the world to amass over 200 million registrations in a record four months, and then 300 million registrations in a mere five months, yet another record. What adds more credibility to this achievement is the sheer stability of the system, which is entertaining over a billion HTTP requests on an average daily," Sharma said at the CoWIN Global Conclave.
The NHA CEO also remarked that CoWIN has been instrumental in influencing the vaccination administration policy as well.
"Early learnings from implementing CoWIN taught us that a supply-driven approach may inevitably result in lower efficiency of vaccination centres. This helped us to take a demand-driven distribution approach, and also make booking second appointments flexible at any centre," he said.
Sharma noted that India has achieved an administration of over 350 million vaccine doses, with at least 284 million Indians receiving at least one dose. This means that almost every third Indian above the age of 18 years has received at least one dose, and the ticker is climbing new peaks every day.
"Countries interested in availing Co-WIN enjoy the liberty of customizing and modifying the platform as per their needs. What makes the system highly configurable is its dynamic and evolvable design and the parameterization of inputs. This allows us to add new brands of vaccines on the fly while adapting their administration schedules based on research and concurrent developments. It is exactly this dimension of the platform that makes it inclusive and accessible to all, as there is no black box of rules," Sharma further said.
Former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman revealed that now focus is on creating a National Digital Health programme which, in a couple of years, will ensure that the entire country is connected through a grid that connects and validates the identities of patients, healthcare providers, healthcare facilities and the pharmacies.
"All these stakeholders will get connected through an open and interoperable grid that will leverage the extensive internet connectivity and robust digital identity - Aadhaar, helping plug the current gaps in healthcare delivery," he added.
Addressing the CoWIN Global Conclave, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We have to learn from each other and guide each other about our best practices. Right from the beginning of this pandemic, India has been committed to sharing all our experiences, expertise and resources with the global community in this pandemic."
The CoWIN Global Conclave aims to share India's experience regarding universal vaccination to combat Covid-19 through CoWIN, according to the National Health Authority. "India is excited to join hands with the world to win over Covid-19 together with Co-WIN," the NHA said in its statement.