Some states report hurdle in vaccination as CoWIN app develops glitches

Glitches were reported from some districts from states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarkhand.

In some areas, the Covid-19 vaccination drive hit a hurdle on the first day after the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) application, developed by the Centre to monitor and track the inoculation process, developed glitches, leading to uploading data of the vaccinated persons manually.

Around 3,00,000 frontline workers were expected to get vaccinated on the first day but only 1,65,714 people got vaccinated, according to an interim health ministry report. This was because of the glitches on the CoWIN app and more than usual time was taken to administer the vaccine at some of the districts centres, officials said.

In West Bengal, problems were faced by health workers uploading data on the app about beneficiaries receiving the vaccine across the state as the app slowed down and could not be operated.

“There were some technical glitches and the app had slowed 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 phone,” said a senior official of the state health department.

On Saturday morning too when the vaccination drive took off at 204 centres across the state problems were encountered with the app.

“The data of the beneficiaries who received the vaccine were supposed to be uploaded. But it was taking a lot of time as the app was working too slowly. Rest everything went fine,” said a doctor from Kandi sub-divisional hospital in Murshidabad district, around 200 kilometres north of Kolkata. Similar, reports were received from some other districts in the state.

In Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarkhand, similar glitches were reported from some districts.

“The server was slowed down leading to difficulties in uploading the data at many centres in our division. We have now directed the vaccination teams to register the details offline and then upload it subsequently,” said Dr PD Gandal, deputy director, health services, Nashik Division.

Dr Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary, state health department said the server had slowed down owing to which the messages could not be sent out. “The issue was resolved by 2 am after which the messages were sent to the beneficiaries,” he said.

In Uttarkhand, Kuldeep Singh Martoliya, nodal officer of state's extended programme for immunization (nodal officer for Covid-19 vaccination), said some technical glitches were reported from some districts as the app had slowed down.

“Our technical team is looking into this,” he said. He added that in some places, volunteers reported reaction to the dose, including a health worker at AIIMS, Rishikesh, who reported a burning sensation. Another a person in Haridwar district got unconscious for a minute after the vaccination. “We are investigating the causes,” said Martoliya.