We have readied the Cowin infrastructure to manage high traffic: RS Sharma, CEO, NHA

"We expect the traffic to go up considerably on the Cowin app because now we are having a larger sort of age group which is eligible for vaccination."

We should understand that registering on the platform is one thing and getting an appointment is another, one will be able to get the appointment only when the facilities put up their schedule of vaccination on the platform, says RS Sharma in an interview with Ruchi Bhatia of ET Now. Edited excerpts:

ET Now: The government has said that those over 18 years of age can now join the vaccination drive. Talk to us about how ready is the Cowin platform to implement the new policy.
Since the last couple of days that the government announced a new policy, we have been working to ensure that the Cowin platform is absolutely ready to implement the new policy. We are opening the registration of 18 years plus from Saturday onwards. So, we are ready.

We also expect the traffic to go up considerably because now we are having a larger sort of age group which is eligible for vaccination. So we have readied the infrastructure also to ensure that people who use the platform do not have any inconvenience or do not have a bad user experience.

ET Now: Tell us about the changes one should ideally expect this time around, now that Sputnik V has also been given approval. How will you ensure that the Cowin app will be able to sustain the coming traffic?
The user experience of registering on the Cowin platform and getting the appointments will remain the same as before. The only rule which is going to change is that now the eligibility criteria will be 18 years onwards, number one. Number two, let us also understand that registering on the platform is one thing and getting an appointment at the facility is quite another, so one will be able to get the appointment only when those facilities put up their schedule of vaccination on the platform.

We are requesting the entities and many of them will be new entities who have not been doing vaccination earlier to register on the Cowin platform so that you are able to publish the timetable, tell the price of your vaccines for the consumer's information and also the kind of vaccines which you are administering. Those things will be the new things, but once they publish the platform then people will be able to get appointments.

This time around there will be industries to buy directly from the manufacturers and they may buy for their own employees. They need not make that whole schedule public so those groups need not register on the platform. However, the vaccination as and when that takes place from whatever means has got to be recorded on the platform because we need to have the data of the overall vaccination progress in the country, the kind of adverse impact which there may be, some adverse impact and that data has got to be captured for the purposes of figuring out the future strategy that is not negotiable in the sense that recoding the vaccine in real-time.

ET Now: You are expecting private hospitals to update on the app the slots that will be available, given the fact that the private sector is yet to procure from the vaccine makers themselves. Do you foresee some sort of a delay coming in on that front?
That is not really my subject. My subject is only to ensure that the platform is ready to accept the request, the numbers and the registrations and also people are able to make schedules of vaccination. So that part is something which I am in charge of and I am only talking about that, with regard to the availability of the vaccine. The purchase of the vaccines is really not my area of expertise.

ET Now: What kind of intervention do you expect from the private sector? How is that process going to work and what kind of conversations you are having with the private hospitals?
We already have the private sector as our partners in the second phase also. Till now, we are having private sector doing vaccination but on behalf of the government so that I suppose will probably either continue or not continue, that is a different issue. But the central government will be procuring 50% of the vaccines and will be continuing to supply vaccines to the government hospitals who will be able to offer the vaccination services free of cost to the people of 45 years plus.

The rest of the supplies will go either to the state governments or to the private hospitals or to the industrial houses for their own employees etc so that will be basically the policies relating to pricing. Other kinds of details will have to be worked out by them. The only thing is that they will also be able to use the Covid platform for registering people on the platform for their facilities and then provide them with the vaccination.

ET Now: If a private institution has procured the vaccines and if they have captive people, for example, their employees who they want to give the vaccine to; do the employees need to register on the platform or the institution as a whole will have to do so?
When an institution vaccinates people, whether they vaccinate their own employees or they vaccinate other people, they will have to record the event on the platform which is basically through a vaccinator app that the platform has. As you know the platform has got four broad categories of applications; one is the application where you can register and you can get appointments, another is when the vaccination is being done then you can record vaccination, third is basically issuance of the digital certificates of vaccination and fourth is publishing on the platform your vacancies and schedule of vaccination by the entities. So these are the four components, they will still continue to use the component related to vaccination and that they will continue to upload the information regarding the vaccination as also.

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