The centre opened the anti-covid vaccination drive for all adults (18-44 Yrs), Appointments for both free and paid vaccinations will be available on the dedicated CoWIN portal and the Aarogya Setu application. When the government’s own vaccine portal opened registrations on April 28 for people between 18 and 44 years, the Co-Win app crashed. Still, over 3.5 million had managed to register within an hour of the opening.
Tech companies are using CoWin APIs to solve the jam by creating such tools that can either notify people when vaccine slots are available or let them know when the next slot is available in real-time.
The guidelines updated on May 5 state that “appointment availability data is cached and may be up to 30 minutes old, making real-time notifications redundant. So while many platforms might show an open slot, the real on-ground situation is very likely to be different in each district.
Vaccine Slot Finder Apps & Tools
Under45.in contacts you with availability of vaccines around you via Telegram. After choosing your district, and the type of vaccine you prefer, Telegram will contact you with relevant information. Link: http://Under45.in
Another such platform, named Getjab.in, sends alerts via email. Link: http://Getjab.in
Paytm, the online payment giant, has also integrated a vaccine finder in its mobile application. Introduced its Vaccine Finder to alert citizens about real-time availability and receive alerts via Paytm chat. The tool scours availability in 780 districts in the country, allows users to filter slots based on location and age, and helps book a slot.
HealthifyMe vaccine finder app, Vaccinateme.in helps you to customize your search, on the basis of the choice, cost of the dose, among other filters. Link: https://www.vaccinateme.in/covid
Facebook released a Vaccine Finder Tool in 17 languages on its mobile app, partnering with the government to steer people to nearby places for vaccines. The tool shows walk-in options for over-45s and a link to register and schedule an appointment. Link: https://www.facebook.com/coronavirus_info/
Google has collaborated with the Ministry of Health to accurately surface information on vaccination centers on Google Search, Maps and Google Assistant.
Signzy has created a solution to allow users to get notified about available vaccine slots nearby. The users can simply check for slot availability or subscribe to get a notification by sharing their email address, postal code, year of birth and phone number (optional). Link: https://covid-support.signzy.app/
FindSlot – To register, add details regarding your district or PIN code, and the site will show you which slots are available. It does not require any registration. Link: https://findslot.in/
FindMyVaccine – https://www.findmyvaccine.in/
Google Sheet-based COVID-19 open-source vaccine tracker that lists out the nearest vaccination slot availability, and users are notified via email.
Co-WIN Public APIs: https://apisetu.gov.in/public/marketplace/api/cowin
Vaccine stocks are running low for both Covishield and Covaxin or slots are already booked. One of the major reasons behind these issues has been the scarcity of vaccines in India, which is likely to continue until July 2021, according to Covishield-maker Serum Institute’s CEO Adar Poonawalla.
