Over 91 applications, including 10 from state governments and large digital companies like Paytm and MakeMyTrip, cleared for offering bookings of COVID-19 vaccine, said CoWIN head RS Sharma.
“Accepted 91 out of 125 applications, inclusive of 10 government applications to offer vaccine bookings,” Sharma told CNBC-TV18.
According to Sharma, entities applied for offering vaccine bookings include Paytm, MakeMyTrip, IndiGo, Dr Reddy's, Max Healthcare among others.
The developments came after the release of the central government’s new guidelines in May for the integration of CoWIN with third-party applications, easing the way for such apps to offer vaccine bookings.
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Earlier, when asked about offering coronavirus vaccine bookings on its platform, MakeMyTrip Group CEO Rajesh Magow said that “with millions already using the app, we want to leverage the API integration to help people easily book their vaccination slots and do our bit to make the entire process more convenient.”
Over the past months, giants like Facebook and Google to startups such as HealthifyMe have introduced a slew of tools to help people find slots for vaccination appointments. Platforms like Under45 and GetJab also became popular overnight as they alerted users when vaccine slots opened up and then directed them to the CoWIN platform to secure an appointment.
India has been ramping up vaccination to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centre has been undertaking vaccinations in a phased manner, starting with those over 60 years, then for those over 45 years and most recently, for those aged between 18-44 years.
The government has announced a new update that enables an applicant to correct any inadvertent errors in name, year of birth and gender printed on the CoWIN vaccination certificate. Users can make the correction through the CoWIN website, said the government on June 9.
After the provision for rectification was made available, two lakh people have been able to make corrections in their vaccine certificates, Sharma told the new channel.
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