Let Data Do The Talking, Please

Context: Countering the critique of the CoWin platform of vaccine delivery in light of recent allegation of it being promoting vaccine inequity amongst different category of citizens.

Alleged criticism of CoWin Platform:

• CoWin prioritises data collection over vaccine equity.
• Question over mandatory registration for vaccination and the registration has been asserted to be marred with ‘fastest finger first’ syndrome.
• Rural exclusion due to the digital divide.
• Automated functions are prone to manipulation through scripts.
• CoWin is attacked for want of a privacy policy, for collecting personal data and possible use of facial authentication and also on the use of Aadhar for verification.

Countering the critique: Significance of CoWin Platform.

• Promotes evidence-based decision making: CoWin enables data collection that supports, close to real-time, development, implementation and evaluation of India’s response to a fast-evolving pandemic.
  • Data collection is not at odds with vaccine equity; it helps the government spot the excluded and strategises their inclusion.
  • It helps to collect After Effects Following Immunisation (AEFI), supporting data-driven public health policies.
  • Technology democratises access and eliminates information asymmetry.
• Supports pre-registration: For several reasons:
  • Provides a light on skewed supply-demand gap: Since April 28, when it was launched for the 18-44 years age group, 5.3 crore registrations were done, but only 48 lakhs are vaccinated.
  • To check chaos at vaccination centres: Vaccination centres would have been swamped by people, creating not only law-and-order issues but also risk of infections.
• Inclusive and ensures last-mile delivery: To include rural population, CoWin provides for on-site registration of people without access to the internet, smartphones or even a feature phone.
  • Out of the 18.22 crore doses administered as of May 16, only 43% have been administered through online appointments; the rest availed of on-site registration.
  • Data show growing affinity of Indians with digital technologies — 150 million people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu, more than 3 billion UPI transactions take place every month, 60 million users have registered on DigiLocker, and 4.28 billion digi-documents have been issued.
  • The CoWin platform leverages many of these applications to reach the last mile.
• Automated functions are kept in check: While vacancy search can be automated, bookings cannot as OTPs and captcha are required.
• Ensures privacy: It does not collect any personally sensitive data that threatens individual privacy, and the data being collected is encrypted.
  • The Supreme Court has ruled fingerprint, iris, and OTP-based authentication do not violate privacy.
  • The criticism against facial recognition doesn’t have a proof of concept, while it will augment authentication capability, result in more inclusion.
  • There are seven documents to choose to get vaccinated. Only 14% of registrants have so far used Aadhaar.