Union Health Ministry today issued a clarification in the wake of reports about the Centre writing to the states and UTs, advising them not to share the data of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system on vaccine stocks and the temperature of vaccine storage at public forums without prior consent.
The health ministry said that the government is committed to transparency in COVID vaccination programme that’s the reason it came up with a real time IT-based tracking of vaccine logistics up to beneficiaries through Co-WIN. Aim is to share the information with general public on regular basis.
“Govt’s advice to States/UTs to obtain permission of Union Health Ministry before sharing E-VIN data and analytics related to vaccines stocks and temperature at which they are stored is solely to prevent any misuse of this data by agencies for commercial purpose,” Union Health Ministry said
“Important to note that Union Health Ministry is using E-VIN electronic platform for all vaccines used under UIP for more than six years now. Sharing of sensitive E-VIN data on stocks & storage, temperature requires the Health Ministry’s prior consent,” it further said.
The data on COVID-19 vaccine stocks, their consumption and balance is reflected on the CoWIN platform, and it is also regularly shared by the Union Health Ministry through weekly press conferences and daily press releases.
“The Health Ministry’s letter to the states and UTs in focus was intended to prevent use of such sensitive data for unauthorised commercial purposes,” the ministry said.
Several measures are being taken for timely availability of COVID-19 vaccines across the country. Streamlining its supply chain, including storage, is also given equal priority, the statement said.
Earlier, In a recent letter to the states, the Union health ministry said the Centre, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has rolled out the eVIN system under UIP, which is used to track the vaccine stock status and the temperature at all levels of vaccine storage, from national to the sub-district level.
In the letter, the health ministry said it was overwhelming to see that all the states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid vaccines on a daily basis.
“In this regard, please be advised that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature is owned by the Ministry of Health and not to be shared with any other organisation, partner agency, media agency, online and offline public forums without the consent of the ministry.
*With inputs from agencies
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