U-WIN may allow mothers to track and report vaccine side-effects on babies

Similar to the CoWIN portal for covid-19, the government's U-WIN platform registers and tracks routine vaccination and immunisation

Mothers may soon have the opportunity to report any side-effects arising from routine immunisation of their infants on the government's U-WIN platform, Mint reported, citing the government’s proposed plans.

Adverse events such as fever and rashes were manually documented earlier, with doctors being notified accordingly, the report claimed. 

This development coincides with AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, acknowledging that its Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, can cause blood clots in rare cases.

The U-WIN platform, part of the government's Universal Immunization Win initiative, is a public health effort, offering free vaccinations against 12 life-threatening diseases to millions of newborns and pregnant women annually. It is also responsible for registering and monitoring routine vaccinations and immunizations. 

The U-WIN platform was designed by the government to capture each and every vaccination event of all pregnant women and children under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP). Currently, only healthcare providers have access to the U-WIN platform who are able to track information in real-time on vaccination, adverse effects, follow-ups, registration and certification.

Similar to the vaccine registration portal CoWIN for Covid-19, which facilitated over 2 billion vaccinations within 18 months, the U-WIN portal is linked to Co-WIN and allows access to beneficiary records through registered mobile numbers for child registration.

The platform is in a pilot phase across two districts in each state and union territory and has already registered over 40 million beneficiaries, and recorded 125 million vaccine doses. There are plans for a nationwide rollout under the new government.

During her interim Budget speech in February, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the expedited rollout of the newly designed U-WIN platform for immunisation management.

Once fully operational, U-WIN is poised to become the world's largest electronic immunisation system, potentially increasing vaccination coverage and reducing infant mortality rates. Integration with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will allow healthcare providers access to comprehensive patient health records.

In the fiscal year 2021-22, a total of 1,026 cases of serious adverse effects following vaccination were reported. 

National guidelines on adverse effects are being revised to accommodate operational changes and provide provisions for reporting minor, severe, and serious adverse effects following Covid vaccination, Mint added.