COVID-19: India makes CoWIN platform open source for global use

India has offered the CoWIN COVID-19 vaccine registration platform as a digital public good to countries across the world in order to help them in their vaccination campaigns. On Monday, India hosted the CoWIN Global Conclave, sharing the open-source software for free to other countries worldwide.

“India is excited to join hands with the world to win over Covid-19 together with Co-WIN,” the National Health Authority said, in a statement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the CoWIN Global Conclave, lauding the country’s ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. He expressed India’s continuous commitment to sharing its expertise, experience and resources with the global community since the beginning of its battle against the pandemic.

The event was jointly organized by the Union Health Ministry, External AffairsMinistry and the National Health Authority (NHA) with the aim of sharing India’s experience and expertise in organizing the nationwide vaccination drive through the CoWIN platform in order to immunize all eligible members of the community against the COVID-19 disease.

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NHA CEO Dr RS Sharma said that about 50 countries, including Canada, Nigeria and Mexico had shown interest in adopting the CoWIN digital platform to enhance their vaccination campaigns.

“The prime minister has directed officials to create an open-source version ofthe platform and give it to any country that wants it for free,” the NHA CEO said.

Speaking to media, Sharma noted that several officials and private players from various foreign countries registered to participate in the global conclave.

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the event in the presence of top central government officials including foreign secretary HV Shringla and health secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The conclave also saw the participation of several leading health and technology experts across the world.

India launched its nationwide vaccination campaign in January 2021 through the CoWIN platform, which allowed eligible citizens to register and book an appointment for inoculation at their nearest vaccination centres. The platform provides digital vaccination certificates to fully inoculated individuals to ensure a paperless experience.

During the conclave, PM Modi highlighted that through the CoWIN platform, India has administered 350 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including the inoculation of 9 million people in a single day recently. As of now, India is administering three COVID-19 vaccines – SII’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, and Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine.