What is Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVin)?

Recently, PM Modi interacted virtually with the head of all states and Union Territories for discussing the preparedness of COVID-19 vaccination in India. During the interaction, it was informed that India is using eVin i.e. Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for identifying the primary beneficiaries of the vaccine and its distribution networks.

What is eVin?

Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVin) is a technology that maintains digital records of stocks of vaccines and monitors the temperature of the cold chain through a mobile application. eVIN was initially launched across 12 states in the year 2015 for supporting improved vaccine logistics management at cold chain points. eVIN also supports the Universal Immunization Programme of the Indian government by providing real-time information related to the stocks and flows of the vaccine, and storage temperatures at all cold chain points across states and UTs.

How eVin Works?

All the cold storage handlers are provided with mobiles/smartphones with eVin application wherein they update the net utilization of each vaccine every day.  This data is viewed by managers at district, state, and national levels. Thus, the data about the stock of vaccines get available to the government. In addition to this, SIM-enabled temperature loggers are attached to the cold chain equipment which records the temperature through a digital sensor placed in the refrigerator. The data related to temperature is captured every 10 minutes and updated after every 60 minutes on the server. In this way, data related to storage temperatures get available.

How vaccine introduction will be guided to all states/UTs?

The Centre government has started its preparations for introducing Covid-19 vaccine. The government has formed a National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) which will guide the strategies for vaccine introduction. It is expected that at an initial level, the supply of the vaccine will be limited due to huge demand. The government will prioritize the population on the basis of risk assessment for vaccination and then other groups will be included for vaccination.

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in August 2020, around 23,507 cold chain points in 585 districts across 22 states and 2 UTs used the eVIN technology. Approximately 41,420 vaccine cold chain handlers started to maintain digital records on eVIN.