WhatsApp, MyGov team up to let users book vax appointments through chatbot

In partnership with the Ministry of Health and MyGov, the MyGov Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp will now allow users to locate their nearest vaccination centre and book their vaccine-appointment.

WhatsApp users across India will now be able to use the chatbot by simply sending ‘Book Slot’ to the WhatsApp number +91 9013151515.

Earlier this month, WhatsApp introduced the functionality to download the vaccination certificate through the same bot.

So far, over 3.2 million certificates have been downloaded by users across the country.

Powered by Haptik’s artificial intelligence solutions and supported by Turn.io, the MyGov Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp, has been used by 41 million users across India since its launch in March 2020.

“MyGov Corona Helpdesk has been a path breaking technological solution that benefited millions of citizens across the nation…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,” said Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov; president and CEO National e-Governance Division.

Given the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and people’s need for contactless access to services, features like these  have been picking up pace.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have worked together with the singular aim of providing citizens with the most relevant benefits in order to help communities recover quickly. Whether it's about providing authentic Covid-related information or enabling vaccine-certificate downloads or, now, about accelerating and easing the process of vaccination bookings for people, our collaboration has unlocked technology’s potential to extend benefits to citizens at scale,” said Shivnath Thukral, director of Public Policy, WhatsApp.

In order to book an appointment using the chatbot, users can start a chat by typing “Book Slot” and sending it to the number 9013151515.

This will generate a 6-digit one-time password on the respective mobile phone number. Users then choose a preferred date and location, based on the pincode and vaccine type. All users can follow this sequence to get a confirmation of their centre and the day of their vaccine appointment.

“MyGov Corona Helpdesk started as a basic helpline for FAQs during the start of the pandemic. We are thrilled to see it grow into a full fledged Chatbot that can book vaccine appointments and process certificates, in English as well as Hindi,” said Aakrit Vaish, CEO, Jio Haptik.