Google has intensified its efforts to assist Indians in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by including vaccine-related information in Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Assistant. What that means is any search related to vaccinations will also include information related to vaccine availability.
Google said the above feature will be included in the next update that is due to be rolled out this week itself. Post the update, more than 13,000 locations will show information such as the availability of vaccines. Google said they will be showing real-time information with data taken via the Cowin APIs.
Users will get to know whether appointments slots are available at a particular location, the dose type – Dose 1 or Dose 2 – on offer, whether it is going to be a free or paid shot, and so on. Users will also be able to book an appointment as well, for which the link to the Cowin site will be provided.
Google also said the vaccine-related information is going to be offered in several Indian languages apart from English. Other languages supported as of now include Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam. The above information will show up automatically when a user searches for vaccine centers near them or in a specific location.
Google has so far been showing information related to COVID-19 testing centers, safe zones, containment zones, quarantine facilities, and so on. It has earlier partnered with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the above features with the latest initiative taking its and the country’s anti-COVID efforts to another level.
The Mountain View company also added they are working with the Cowin team to ensure they have vaccine-related information available for all vaccine centers across India. The timing of the launch of the new feature couldn’t have been better as the country races ahead to have as many vaccinated as possible before the deadly Delta wave hits the country.
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