Thread by @apar1984

Thread. For the age group of 18-45, as per @AyushmanNHA, “for all 18+ citizens, vaccinations will not be done on a walk-in basis. Individuals will be required to register beforehand on the #CoWIN portal to ensure physical distancing”. This will cause exclusion. Why? 1/n

Recent experience: Out of 14,42,10,652 Vaccinations registrations, through CoWin are 2,52,96,511, walk-in 9,33,47,824 or Health Care or Front Line Workers 2,55,66,317. Source: CoWin Dashboard (April 28). 2/n
dashboard.cowin.gov.in

Connectivity: Total Internet Subscribers 795.18 Million. Total Internet Subscribers per 100 population 58.51M; Urban Internet Subscribers per 100 population 103.98; Rural Internet Subscribers per 100 population 34.60. Source : TRAI (April 27) 3/n trai.gov.in/sites/default/…

Gender divide: Bihar 20%, Andhra Pradesh 21%, Tripura 22%, West Bengal 25%, Telangana 26%, Assam 28%, Gujarat 30%, Meghalaya 34%, Karnataka 35% less than 40% women have used the internet. Source: National Family Health Survey (Dec. 2020) 4/n rchiips.org/NFHS/NFHS-5_FC…

Infra: Estimated total 5,97,618 inhabited villages, including Gram Panchayats (as per the Census 2011) in the country, about 5,69,897 are covered by mobile services. Source: Parliamentary Question (March, 2020) 5/n http://164.100.24.220/loksabhaquestions/annex/173/AS245.pdf

Cost of Smartphone: Cheapest smartphone in India costs twice an average person’s monthly salary. (Opinion: Cost of “cheapest smartphone” open to revision but class distinction between feature & smartphones is valid). Source: AAI (August 2020) 6/n
docs.google.com/document/d/1YF…

Opinion and sequitur. Facts demonstrate our vaccination policy is providing preferential access to digital systems dependent on economic & social mobility. This is an active factor for timely access to a life saving vaccine. It is illegal, unethical and immoral. 7/7

Postscript: Yesterday more than 80 Lakh people, including me registered on CoWin. Most would be in the age range of 18-45. We effectively skipped the line ahead of people who do not have access or the technical means to access the internet.