Even though India has been successfully able to vaccinate nearly 64 crore eleigible people including both first and second doses, many are yet to get vaccinated against the vaccination. The central government has made an online portal CoWIN to book vaccination slot for beneficiaries.
In a bid to enhance access to COVID-19 vaccine, the Union Health Ministry has taken few significant steps. The intitiative by the Centre will help the eliglible beneficiary to find a nearby vaccination centre in their respective areas.
Follow the below steps:
1. Search 'covid vaccine near me' on Google
2. Check availability of slots & more
3. Use 'Book Appointment' feature to book a slot
In March 2021, Google started showing COVID-19 vaccination centers in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Starting this week, for over 13,000 locations across the country, people will be able to get more helpful information about vaccine availability and appointments -- powered by real-time data from the CoWIN APIs.
This includes information such as:
1. Availability of appointment slots at each center
2. Vaccines and doses offered (Dose 1 or Dose 2)
3. Expectations for pricing (Paid or Free)
4. Link to the CoWIN website for booking
The information will automatically show up when users search for vaccine centers near them, or in any specific area – across Google Search, Maps and Google Assistant. In addition to English, users can also search in eight Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, and Marathi. We will continue to partner closely with the CoWIN team to extend this functionality to all vaccination centers across India.
Meanwhile, India administered over 1 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. This is the second time the single-day vaccination tally crossed the 1 crore-mark within five days. Earlier on August 27, India had administered more than 1 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Taking to Twitter, PM Modi had written: "Record vaccination numbers today! Crossing 1 crore is a momentous feat. Kudos to those getting vaccinated and those making the vaccination drive a success."