New Delhi: While India began its first and the largest coronavirus vaccination drive in the world on Saturday, the inoculation process suffered a glitch in West Bengal after officials faced difficulty operating the CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) app, developed by the Centre for real-time monitoring of the vaccine rollout.
However, on the first day of the vaccine drive in West Bengal, health workers faced trouble operating the app as it had reportedly slowed down, affecting the entire process.
“There were some technical glitches and the app had slowed down since Friday. Not all messages were going to health workers who were supposed to receive the vaccine on Saturday morning. The persons concerned were individually called up and informed over the phone,” a senior official of the state’s health department told Hindustan Times.
Officials said that the app was not opening and users had to login several times to be able to use it. However, the matter had been taken care of, officials said later.
The CoWIN app is a digital platform that was introduced by the Union government for real-time monitoring and tracking of the vaccination drive. Recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine can self-register on the app to get inoculated.
With 3,006 session sites across all states and union territories, India began the first phase of the world’s largest vaccination program today morning to vaccinate a total of 3 lakh citizens. In the first phase, government and private sector health care workers including Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS) workers, are receiving the vaccine.
The drive will be held daily from 9am to 5pm, except on the days earmarked for routine immunisation programmes.