Srinagar: In Jammu and Kashmir the Covid-19 vaccination drive has slowed down, not because of beneficiaries not turning up for the shot but because of the slow speed of internet and backend technical glitches of the Co-WIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work) app, which registers and monitors the vaccine jab.
Officials told Kashmir Reader that since the drive was started on Jan 16, the number of Covid-19 vaccine shots administered have gone down every day, except on Thursday. This has happened because the Co-WIN app in which details of the recipients had to be put up could not be uploaded due to low-speed internet.
“It was better today. We had 2420 shots, the highest so far,” the official sources said.
On day 1, about 2,180 persons received the shots, followed by 1,223 on Day 2 and 1,021 on Day 3. Kupwara district was the most affected as only 10 healthcare workers could get the vaccination on a day when the target was 200. In Shopian, Bandipora, Kathua and Kishtwar districts, 12, 13, 26 and 29 health workers received the shots, respectively.
Sources said that the Co-WIN app did not show details of workers at sites of vaccination, the registered names of workers were amiss, and the app went down many times, slowing down the whole process.
State Immunisation Officer Dr Qazi Haroon told Kashmir Reader that the performance was better on Thursday as backend glitches were resolved to a large extent. About the slow internet speed, he said that it was “not in his domain”.
J&K is plagued with slow 2G internet speed for more than one-and-a-half year now, as the administration thinks that it is a must for the maintenance of law and order. Education, various government schemes that required the internet, and many businesses have been hit by the slow speed.
Dr Qazi said that fear among the health workers was also making the process slow, though after a massive awareness campaign, the results are getting better.
“So far, no one has complained of anything,” he added.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz