Booking a slot for COVID-19 vaccination just became a whole lot easier thanks to WhatsApp and the Ministry of Health. Both parties today announced that the MyGov Corona HelpDesk on WhatsApp now allows users to locate their nearest vaccination centre and book their vaccine appointment.

Will Cathcart, Chief Executive Officer, Whatsapp on Twitter said that today we are partnering with the Ministry of Health and @mygovindia to enable people to make their vaccine appointments via WhatsApp.

Powered by Haptik’s AI solutions and supported by Turn.io, the MyGov Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp, since its launch in March 2020, has emerged as a good source of COVID-related information during the pandemic and served as a critical instrument in fighting the public-health crisis for over 41 million users across India.

Earlier this month, on 5th August 2021, MyGov and WhatsApp also introduced the ability for users to download vaccine certificates from the chatbot and so far, over 32 lakh certificates have been downloaded by users across the country.

“Since its launch, MyGov Corona Helpdesk, enabled with support from Haptik and Turn.io, has evolved into a go-to platform that is not only helping citizens with authentic Corona-related information but is now also aiding them in the process of vaccine booking as also finding vaccination centers and slots and downloading vaccination certificates," commented Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov; President & CEO NeGD; MD & CEO Digital India Corporation (DIC) at Govt of India.

"We are thankful to WhatsApp for their continued support in helping us unlock the true potential of this chatbot for citizen help and engagement throughout the trying times of the pandemic,” he added.