Amidst the ongoing pandemic, India is the country that has been affected the most with the highest number of active cases in the world. During such a human crisis many of the countries have extended their support to India providing any help possible. According to recent sources, Facebook has partnered with the Indian government to roll out a vaccine finder tool on its mobile app in India. The tool will help people to identify nearby places to get vaccinated.
Facebook, the social media leader, has announced a USD 10 million grant for emergency response efforts for the COVID-19 situation in India. Its newly developed vaccine tracker tool will allow users to find the nearest vaccine center locations and their hours of operation. The data will be shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The tracker tool will also have walk-in options only for 45 years and above along with a link to register on the Cowin portal and schedule vaccination appointments.
The social media company stated that “Partnering with the Government of India, Facebook will begin rolling out its Vaccine Finder tool on the Facebook mobile app in India available in 17 languages to help people identify places nearby to get the vaccine.”
It also stated its plan of joining hands with NGOs and agencies — namely, United Way, Swasth, Hemkunt Foundation, I Am Gurgaon, Project Mumbai, and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) — to deploy the funds announced to help build up a stock of critical medical supplies that includes over 5,000 oxygen concentrators and other life-saving equipment like ventilators, BiPAP machines.
In the crisis of emergency, Facebook stated that the COVID-19 Information Center and in Feed will have information on how to seek emergency care and how to manage mild COVID-19 symptoms at home, and this will be provided by UNICEF India.
Let’s just hope that the country recovers soon from this crisis