Retail-tech startup Arzooo on Thursday announced the launch of a COVID-19 vaccine slot tracker on its business-to-business platform as well as its main website.
With this, Arzooo joins a growing list of companies that have introduced digital tools to help people amid the deadly second wave of the pandemic.
Arzooo said the latest initiative would enable people to check availability and also get notified for the next available vaccine slots.
''As the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive progresses, the primary challenge for people has shifted to finding an appointment slot. To help combat this battle, Arzooo… today announced the launch of a COVID-19 vaccine slot tracker on its B2B platform as well as its main website…,'' the company said in a statement.
Arzooo added it has dedicated the website for vaccine slot tracking. However, the slot finding feature on its B2B (app) platform is created exclusively for the partner retailers.
Arzooo currently has a retail network of 10,000 partner retailers.
Speaking on the initiative, Khushnud Khan, co-founder, and CEO of Arzooo said one can check for the vaccine availability as per the pin-code or district and select between 18-plus and 45-plus age groups.
The new feature also helps users in finding nearby vaccination centers and can send a notification when the vaccine slots are available.
''We are dedicating our whole website to the cause of vaccination for next couple of months, there won't be any other business on the corporate site. This opens the window for every citizen of the country to use the platform to check vaccine slot availability,'' Khushnud added.
The vaccination drive in India was rolled out on January 16, with healthcare workers getting inoculated and the vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.
Subsequently, it was opened for different age groups. While people have rushed to register for the jab, certain states have flagged limited availability of vaccines.
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 also enabling people looking for resources like hospital beds, ventilators, and oxygen cylinders.