National Health Authority to help in CoWIN global rollout

Tata Consultancy Services (), Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure and Trigyn Technologies have expressed interest in rolling out India’s vaccination platform CoWIN in other countries, a top government official said. Last month, the government organised a global conclave where foreign countries had expressed interest in adapting CoWIN to vaccinate their citizens. About 50 countries, including Canada and Mexico, are reportedly interested in the platform.

The government has
open-sourced the CoWIN platform and will provide certification to the companies for the rollout, RS Sharma, chief executive of the National Health Authority (NHA), told ET.

According to the NHA, the six firms have met the technical criteria. They will be trained in the technology and allowed to provide customisation of the vaccination platform as per the needs of various countries. The companies will get to understand how the system operates and can help in onboarding interested nations. “We are building capacity in the private sector for it… We are training the trainers. Whoever is willing to come, we are training them so that they can help to replicate it outside India,” Sharma added.

Since the vaccination drive is time-sensitive, the government may not have the bandwidth to handhold and build the system for everyone, he said.

Countries interested in adapting CoWIN will get an already functional software that can be quickly implemented.

The platform’s advantages include providing digital certificates required during international travel. It also helps in keeping track of vaccination doses in real time and ensures wastage and duplication are avoided. “Any digital system is better than manual,” said Sharma.