Snapdeal launches Sanjeevani app to connect COVID patients with potential plasma donors

Sanjeevani was first launched to help the employees of Snapdeal find possible donors, but the e-commerce platform has now opened this for everyone.

PTI
May 10, 2021 / 03:23 PM IST

E-commerce company Snapdeal has launched 'Sanjeevani' to connect COVID-19 patients with potential plasma donors, joining the growing roster of companies that have introduced digital tools to help people amid the deadly second wave of the pandemic.

Right from giants like Facebook and Google to startups such as HealthifyMe have introduced a slew of tools over the past few weeks to help people find slots for vaccination appointments.

Drawing on the country’s proven tech prowess and massive reach of social media platforms, many companies and developers are enabling people looking for resources like hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen cylinders.

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In a statement on Monday, Snapdeal said it has created an easy-to-use platform, Sanjeevani, to use its wide reach in India, including across smaller towns and cities to connect people.

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

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Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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The tool will be accessible via the website and mobile app, it added. Patients and donors can register themselves with their mobile numbers/email IDs and provide relevant information like blood group, location and donor-specific details such as when they tested positive or negative for COVID-19 infection.

Patients and donors can register themselves with their mobile numbers/email IDs and provide relevant information like blood group, location and donor-specific details such as when they tested positive or negative for COVID-19 infection.

After registering, Snapdeal’s search engine will look for relevant matches and connect patients with potential donors.

Sanjeevani was first launched to help the employees of Snapdeal find possible donors, but the e-commerce platform has now opened this for everyone.

Sanjeevani will also help raise awareness on the importance of plasma donation and encourage recovered COVID-19 patients to donate, it added.

In the last few weeks amid an unprecedented surge in COVID cases, companies like Facebook and Paytm have unveiled vaccine finder apps to help schedule shots even as states have flagged a limited supply of doses.

Platforms like Under45 and GetJab also alert users when vaccine slots open up and then direct them to the CoWIN platform to secure an appointment.

While people have rushed to register for the jab, the limited availability of vaccines is prompting users to rely on these tools to track appointment availability.

According to Union Health Ministry data on May 10, 3,754 COVID-19 fatalities and 3,66,161 new cases were reported in a day.

So far, over 17 crore people have been vaccinated in the country. So far, over 17 crore people have been vaccinated in the country.

The government’s CoWIN portal had opened for registrations on April 28 for those aged above 18 years.

The vaccination drive for this age group opened on May 1.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.
PTI
TAGS: #Business #coronavirus #Health #plasma donation #plasma donors #Snapdeal
first published: May 10, 2021 03:23 pm