COVID Vaccination: Paytm’s new COVID-19 Vaccine Slot Finder tool will be available on both Android and iOS devices. The Paytm tool takes real-time data from CoWIN.
Since India expanded its vaccine drive for people above the age of 18, it has become quite a struggle to get a vaccination slot easily due to various reasons. To tackle this problem, the Indian authorities also opened up the Cowin Application Programming Interface (API), a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Now more and more companies are taking advantage of the CoWIN API to offer vaccine slot availability to their customers.
The most recent to join this list of companies in the Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company – Paytm. A few days back, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar took to his Twitter account and wrote that the new COVID-19 Vaccine Slot Finder tool will be available on both Android and iOS devices. The Paytm tool takes real-time data from CoWIN.
“We are launching a new tool for users to find COVID Vaccine slots and set for alerts when new slots open up for their locality. @Paytm checks for availability in real-time and alerts users via Paytm Chat when a new slot opens up. Pls spread awareness,” read Sharma’s tweet.
Both the age groups of 18+ and 45+ are covered under this facility offered by Paytm. Also, the Vaccine Slot Finder can show available slots for the next four weeks. It offers the users the facility to set up notifications in case there are no vaccine slots available. Once the slot is available, they will be notified via Paytm chat.
Furthermore, if the slot is available, the users need to pick a date and time and they will be redirected to the CoWIN website or app to book their vaccine appointment. So, Paytm’s new tool can be used only to check vaccine availability and get notified of the slot. However, one needs to visit the CoWIN portal to book the vaccine appointment.
Here is a look at how you can check COVID-19 vaccine availability using Paytm on Android or iOS.
1. Open the Paytm app on your smartphone.
2. Scroll down to the Mini App Store section.
3. You will be able to see the Vaccine Finder option here. You can also search for a vaccine finder by tapping on the search icon.
4. Fill in the required details and click on ‘Check Availability’ to check open slots.