Facilitators ensured there was no CoWin digital divide: Govt

New Delhi: Use of CoWin for India’s vaccination programme might have raised some questions around ‘digital divide’ in the country, but data released by the health ministry on Tuesday shows that the platform didn’t deter those eligible as there were enough facilitators to help them out for on-site registration and walk-in vaccinations.

Vaccination statistics show that 58% of total beneficiaries have been registered through on-site mode and nearly 80% of all vaccine doses have been administered through walk-in vaccination.

Highlighting vaccination figures, the ministry claimed that facilitators such as health workers or Ashas mobilised beneficiaries in rural areas and those residing in urban slums for on-site registration and vaccination directly at the nearest vaccination centres.

Besides, facilitated registration through the Common Service Centres (CSCs) on CoWin and facility for assisted registrations through the 1075 help line too assisted those who could not access or use the digital platform on their own.

The ministry said all the facilitated registration modes, specifically operationalised for rural areas, are “functional and enabling equitable access to vaccination in rural areas”. It said it was evident from the fact that 16.45 crore (58%) beneficiaries out of 28.36 crore beneficiaries registered on CoWin have been registered in the on-site mode as on June 13.

Similarly, 19.84 crore doses (nearly 80%) out of the total 24.84 crore vaccine doses recorded on CoWin as on June 13 have been administered through onsite/ walk-in vaccination.

Denying the rural-urban divide, the ministry said the CoWin system offers a “completely flexible and inclusive framework” for facilitating vaccination recording in rural areas, and especially in the remotest parts of the country.

It noted that out of the total 69,995 vaccination centres so far classified by states on CoWin as rural or urban, 71% (49,883) of them are located in rural areas where people can directly walk-in for on-site registration and vaccination.

Referring to vaccination in remote areas, the ministry claimed that vaccination per million population in tribal districts is higher than the national average and more walk-in vaccinations are happening in tribal districts as compared to national average.