India’s third and largest vaccination phase against Covid-19 has already begun. People who belong to the age group 18-45 are now eligible for a vaccine against this deadly virus. To make it easy for people to find Covid-19 vaccination centres near them, WhatsApp has launched new functionality under its MyGov chatbot in India. WhatsApp's MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot was first launched back in early 2020.

If you’re wondering how to use this new feature, simply follow the steps mentioned below:

-- The first step that you need to follow is to save the number ‘9013151515’ belonging to the official business account of MyGov Corona Helpdesk on your smartphone. Once done, you’ll be able to spot the number in your WhatsApp contacts where you need to tap on the contact to begin chatting.

 
In case you have saved the number but can’t spot it in your WhatsApp Contact list, you can try refreshing the contact list or visit this website where you can access the chatbot on WhatsApp Web.

-- The second step is to start the conversation. Simply send a ‘Hi’ or ‘Namaste’ to start the conversation. You will receive an automated response from the MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot with a series of queries for you to choose from. This ranges from details around vaccination centres, latest updates and alerts on Coronavirus, facts checker, etc.

Keep in mind that it might take a few minutes to receive this automated response. Also, in case you accidentally type a random query in the chatbot, don’t worry as it will again send you an automated response, asking you to select from different options related to your query. You can also simply type in your query in the chatbot. Moreover, you can also view the options in Hindi by typing ‘Hindi’ in the chatbox.

-- Once you are presented with vaccination related options, third step is tp choose the ‘centres related information’ option, wherein ultimately the chatbot will ask you for your 6-digit Postal pin code. Enter the pin code and the MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot will send you a list of vaccine centres located near you. Along with the name of vaccination centres, the list will also have information related to slots availability.

It’s that simple to use the WhatsApp-powered MyGov chatbot. You can also find information related to nearby vaccination centres on the CoWIN platform that lets users register for the vaccine. On this platform, you can easily spot the 'find nearby vaccination centres ' feature.