Process goes manual at several locations

Health care workers administering the Covid-19 vaccine in at least five states faced minor hurdles on the first day of India’s immunisation drive while Maharashtra suspended its campaign for at least two days due to technical glitches with the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CO-WIN) app that forms the backbone of the country’s immunisation plan.

Due to difficulties in uploading data on the app, which has been developed by the central government to monitor and track the inoculation process, health care workers in some districts had to put up information about the vaccine recipients on the digital platform manually, according to people aware of the developments.

Maharashtra officials announced that the vaccination campaign in the state will be temporarily suspended till at least Monday. In West Bengal, officials said the app slowed down since Friday, and many health workers could not operate it; instead they had to put up information manually.