The second wave of COVID-19 has hit India hard! Moreover, the cases in India continue to remain in huge numbers – causing panic and chaos everywhere. But with all the joining hands of all walks of people – we are fighting hard. Interestingly, India’s most popular messaging platform WhatsApp has also added a new update – MyGov Corona Helpdesk Chatbot. This update will help users find the COVID-19 vaccine around them.
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The information accessible via the MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot – is to help citizens find more accurate coronavirus-related information. The Facebook-owned platform launched the chatbot in April 2020. Additionally, just a week after the Central government announced the first nationwide lockdown. However, MyGovIndia’s Twitter account has tweeted that the chatbot now helps people find the nearest vaccination centre.
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How to use MyGov Corona Helpdesk to find nearby COVID-19 vaccination centers:
The MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot is now only accessible on WhatsApp, and you must be a subscriber to the messaging service to take benefit of the new feature release. To locate the closest vaccination centre, follow the procedures outlined below.
- Save the number 9013151515 or visit this link to open the MyGoV Corona Helpdesk Chatbot.
- Type Hi or Namaste in the chat to begin the conversation
- An automated response will ask for a series of questions and ultimately your pin code where you reside in.
- Enter the pin code.
- MyGoV Corona Helpdesk Chatbot will then send the list of vaccine centers in the mentioned location.
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Additionally, the response will be accompanied by a link to the CoWIN portal where you can register (in case you haven’t already). You can sign in for vaccination. The following steps, such as making an appointment, is to be done through CoWIN.
Note that answers may be delayed (up to ten minutes) at this time — may be owing to excessive traffic — so if you do not get a prompt immediately, do not worry or become discouraged. The chatbot is up and running well (and so is your WhatsApp).
Apart from WhatsApp, you can also look for nearby vaccination centres through the MapmyIndia platform. Or even the CoWIN platform. The homepage of the CoWIN website has a ‘find nearby vaccination centres’ feature and punching your PIN code will throw a list of all the registered vaccination centres in the area.
Note that responses are delayed (sometimes by over 10 minutes) at this point in time — possibly due to heavy traffic. In case, you don’t receive a prompt immediately, don’t panic or be disheartened. The chatbot is working fine (and so is your WhatsApp).
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Sushmita Choubey
Marketer to the core, a writer from the soul. Engineer and an MBA turned budding tech writer - dabbling her hands in all genres of writing from tech to fiction. If not writing, you will always find me reading anything and everything. Otherwise, you will find me learning new languages.