Why in the News?

The government plans to roll out U-WIN, an online vaccine management portal for childhood vaccination, across the country.
- Similar to CoWIN used during the Covid-19 pandemic, U-WIN aims to digitize and individualize immunization records from birth.

What is U-WIN?

Children up to 6 years old and pregnant mothers are registered on U-WIN using government IDs like Aadhaar and their mobile phone numbers.
Records of all 25 shots given to a child and the two given to pregnant mothers are added to the platform.
It’s Working:
The platform generates a color-coded vaccination certificate.
- The digital vaccine certificate can be downloaded by parents using their registered mobile numbers, eliminating the need for a physical vaccination booklet.
After each shot is administered and recorded, the date is added to the card, which also shows the due date for the next set of vaccines.
- U-WIN sends SMS reminders to parents before their children are due for the next dose.
- U-WIN helps locate the nearest vaccination center and book available slots.

U-WIN’s reminders to parents are likely to improve compliance with vaccination schedules.
The platform ensures portability, allowing children to receive their doses anywhere in the country, particularly benefiting children of migrant workers.
Registration at birth may help reduce the number of “zero dose” children, those who have not received any vaccinations.

The platform can automatically generate a due list of children in specific areas for health workers.
These data points can be utilized by other government programs and eventually connected through the ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) ID.

U-WIN will link to the government’s existing eVIN platform for inventory management.
eVIN tracks all vaccine vials, from central stores to each vaccination site, monitoring doses used, wasted, and returned, and tracks real-time temperature and humidity using sensors.
U-WIN runs on the same principles and digital infrastructure as CoWIN, making adoption straightforward.
Most vaccinators are familiar with similar platforms, ensuring a smooth transition.

In India, the coverage of the first dose of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT)-containing vaccine is taken as the proxy for zero dose children.
Data from WHO and UNICEF showed that while 93% of children received their first vaccine dose, there were still 1.6 million zero dose children in India in 2023.
The data also showed that 1.6 million children missed their first measles-containing vaccine in 2023, up from 1.1 million the previous year.
This is concerning as in 2022, five states — Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra — reported a rise in the incidence of measles.

[2016] ‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:

(a) Immunization of children and pregnant women

(b) Construction of smart cities across the country

(d) New Educational Policy