Low smartphone reach coupled with lack of digital literacy hit rural India Covid vaccine drive

Mumbai | New Delhi: On a Sunday morning last month, Adhi Kesavan and his wife travelled 5-7 km from their home at Gudiyattam in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district to a common service centre to register their names for Covid-19 vaccination.

The 68-year-old villager did not own, or know how to use, a smartphone to register their names on the government’s vaccination tracking app, Co-Win. The panchayat head said he could do that at the nearest e-sevai maiyyam, as the common service centre (CSC) is known locally.

“We heard it from our panchayat head that we can get vaccinated if we register in the e-sevai maiyyam. Our number will be given to the hospitals nearby and we will get a call once the vaccine is ready,” he said.