Covid-19: All universal vaccine programmes to be linked to CoWin

PUNE: Linking of the entire Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) under the ministry of health and family welfare to CoWin is in the works, a central government official with portal management team said on Friday.

“The ministry provides vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women through UIP. Discussions are on to integrate the entire programme with CoWin as it is likely to have almost 80 crore registrations in the next few months after Covid vaccination for children is started. This means that not just Covid inoculations but all vaccinations provided under UIP could be brought on the CoWin platform.” the official told TOI.

UIP includes vaccines like BCG, DPT and OPV besides that for Measles and Hepatitis B, among others.

The official said with crores of registrations on CoWin, a database of beneficiaries with mobile numbers has been created, which is one way to integrate UIP with CoWin. Experts said citizens currently undergoing vaccination under UIP don’t have access to a digital system through which they can check their vaccination records, with only manual cards being available as vaccination records.