At CoWIN Global Conclave, Narendra Modi hails 'one earth, one health' principle: Highlights of PM's address

Hailing the principle of ‘one earth, one health’ to overcome the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flagged off the CoWIN Global Conclave to make available the vaccine registration platform to all nations that seek it. His virtual address comes at a time India has administered 350 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19. “India is excited to join hands with the world to win over COVID-19 together with CoWIN,” the National Health Authority said in a statement. The conclave will witness participation from health and technology experts across the world. Fifty countries, including Mexico, Canada, Uganda and Nigeria, have expressed interest in adopting CoWIN to run their inoculation drives, PTI reported. Here are the highlights of Modi’s address at the CoWIN Global Enclave:

• I convey my condolences for the loss of lives during the pandemic. There is no parallel to such a pandemic in 100 years. Experience shows that no nation, however powerful, can solve a challenge like this in isolation.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, India has been committed to sharing all our experiences, expertise and resources with the global community. Despite all constraints, we have been able to share as much as possible with the world.
• Technology is integral to our fight against COVID-19. Luckily, software is one area in which there are no constraints in resources. That is why we made our COVID tracking and tracing app open source as soon as it was technically feasible. With nearly 200 million users, Aarogya Setu is a readily available package for developers. Having been used in India, you can be sure it has been tested in the real world for speed and scale.
• Vaccination is the best hope for humanity to emerge successfully from the pandemic. Right from beginning, India adopted a completely digital approach while planning its vaccination strategy.
• For the post-pandemic world to return to normalcy, a digital approach is essential. People must be able to prove that they have been vaccinated. Such proof must be safe, secure and trustworthy. People must have a record of when, where by whom they have been vaccinated.
• Given how precious each dose of vaccine is, governments are also concerned about making sure that each dose is tracked and wastage is minimised. All of this is impossible without an end-to-end digital approach.
• Our tech platform for COVID vaccination CoWIN is being prepared to be made open source. Soon, it will be available in any and all countries. Today’s conclave is the first step to introduce this platform to all of you. This is the platform through which India has administered 350 million doses. People don’t need to carry around fragile pieces of paper to prove anything, it is available in digital formats. The software can be customised by any country as per their local requirements.

Modi has instructed officials to create an open-source version of the vaccine registration platform and share it for free with any country which wants it. The conclave aims to share India’s experience with regards to universal vaccination to fight COVID-19 through Co-WIN, the NHA said. “Join us as we unfold the story behind the development of a scalable, inclusive and open platform called CoWIN, the tech backbone of India’s vaccination drive,” it added.