Google Maps, Assistant, Search to offer details of vaccine availability

By Team Newsable | First Published Sep 1, 2021, 6:23 PM IST

To help India's immunisation effort, Google is providing new functionality to several of its services. Google Maps, Google Assistant, and Search will begin to offer specific information about COVID-vaccination centres near users later this week. The functionality will be enabled by APIs from India's CoWIN site, which will give real-time information on vaccination availability and appointments.

According to Google, immunisation assistance will be provided in over 13,000 sites around the country. The availability of appointment slots at each facility, whether the centre offers Dose 1 or Dose 2 of the appropriate vaccinations (Covishield, Covaxin, or others), and any price information, if applicable, will be supplied.
It should be noted that users will still need to visit the CoWIN online interface to schedule an appointment. However, Google will give a fast link on Maps and other services that allow consumers to easily access the portal.

Tap to resize

Latest Videos

Tap to resize

Also Read | Google removes 95,680 objectionable content in July in India, reveals report

For individuals who do not use Google Maps, the same information will be available on the Google Search app and through Google Assistant, and will appear whenever someone searches for Covid or vaccinations.
Google has also provided all vaccine-related information in a variety of regional languages. In addition to English, customers will be able to receive immunisation assistance in eight Indian languages. Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, and Marathi are among them.

For more reliable and latest news