Aarogya Setu integrates with Indian vaccine app CoWIN; allows users to access COVID-19 vaccine info

CoWIN isn't available to download to the general public for now

Moneycontrol News

February 11, 2021 / 19:06 IST

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin was granted restricted emegency use approval in 'clinical trial mode' on January 2.

Launched earlier this year, CoWIN or Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network is the official government made app to track the vaccination drive against COVID-19. Since the vaccination drive is currently in the early phases, the CoWIN standalone application is not available to download for the public at large just yet.

Aarogya Setu, the popular COVID-19 tracker for India has now announced an integration with CoWIN that gives us a brief glimpse at what can be expected from the standalone app. The integration was announced via twitter:

Need information on COVID19 Vaccination. COWIN details are live on Aarogya Setu. Access Vaccination Information, view COWIN Dashboard and download your Vaccination Certificates if you have recd at least one dose of COVID19 Vaccination.@GoI_MeitY @NITIAayog @NICMeity
— Aarogya Setu (@SetuAarogya) February 7, 2021

The first phase of the vaccination drive is already underway, with health officials, frontline workers, and people over the age of 50 years, the first in line for the vaccine. With CoWIN integration, Aarogya Setu now has features to track the people who have been vaccinated. You can track and download certificates for successful vaccination as well as quickly find out who within your nearest perimeter has been vaccinated.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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