CoWIN launches new API for business entities to track vaccination status of individuals

New Delhi, Sep 10 (UNI) CoWIN has developed a new API that will let organizations know the vaccination status of their employees, associates, or customers, the union health ministry said on Friday.
The API, Know Your Customer’s/Client’s Vaccination Status’ is designed for business entities and will help them know the status of individuals’ vaccination with whom they may be engaging.
“As the socio-economic activities are being gradually revived while maintaining everyone’s safety, there is a need for a way to digitally convey the status of individuals’ vaccination to entities with whom they may be engaging with for any or all reasons, as employees, passengers, residents etc,” the ministry said.
According to the union ministry, in order to use the API, an individual needs to enter his/her mobile number and name. Thereafter, they will get an OTP which they have to enter. In return, CoWIN will send a response to the verifying entity on the individual’s status of vaccination, which will be as follows –
0 – Person is not vaccinated
1 – Person is partially vaccinated
2 – Person is fully vaccinated
“This response will be digitally signed and can be shared instantly with the verifying entity. A real-life example could be when at the time of booking a railway ticket, an individual will input the necessary details for buying the ticket and if required, the concerned entity will also get the vaccination status in the same transaction, with the due consent of the individual” the ministry added.
The API is offered with a webpage that can be embedded in any system/portal, informed the National Health Authority (NHA), which developed the CoWIN application.
The authority also said that the latest API is both consent-based and privacy-preserving.
This is consent-based/privacy-preserving. This will ensure a quick and seamless integration with any system. “We believe this will help us resume socio-economic activities faster while ensuring everyone’s safety,” Dr RS Sharma, CEO, NHA said.
Currently, CoWIN issues a digitally verifiable certificate as proof of vaccination for each individual after doses are administered. This certificate can be saved on a digital device (smartphone, tablet, laptop etc.) or stored in Digi Locker from where it can be digitally shared as and when required as proof of vaccination.