![Vaccination drive underway in Chennai with a woman getting a shot by a nurse as a man fills in a card in the foreground](http://media.assettype.com/tnm%2Fimport%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FChennai_vaccination_drive_pti_25062021.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has launched a new website to allow residents to book vaccine slots for the next day. The website - gccvaccine.in - was launched on Thursday in an attempt to further digitise all citizen-related services offered by the Corporation. The website has two options - ‘Book a vaccine slot’ and ‘manage your slots’. Residents can check vaccine dose availability and book slots in any of the centres in the 15 zones of the GCC. The website shows the centre, type of vaccine available, and the number of slots left for booking.
“Out of the vaccines available in each centre, we allot 1/3 of the stock for online bookings. This is to rule out any digital divide and allow ample doses for people who walk in to the centre,” says Simranjeet Singh Kahlon IAS, RDC (South) Greater Chennai Corporation.
Citizens who register on the GCC website need not register on the Union government’s CoWin website. For those who have booked slots, registration on CoWin will be done by officials at the vaccination centre. However it is mandatory to bring the government approved ID card used to book your slot and phone with the contact number given to book the slot in order to give the one time password and verify their details at the vaccination centre. “For now, we have only allowed people to book for the next day as we are trying out this system and there are supply constraints too,” Simranjeet added.
Another option to book slots is to text the number 9499933644 and book appointments. This is the Greater Chennai Corporation’s WhatsApp chat bot which will explain the various options to citizens via chat. The bot will then direct you to the GCC vaccine website to book your slot online. Citizens can also call 044-46122300 to book their vaccine appointments.
The website link is placed on the Greater Chennai Corporation’s website. There is also an option directing to the WhatsApp chat on the Greater Chennai Corporation’s page. The website was created by Chennai Innovation Hub in partnership with Chennai Smart City Ltd. On Thursday, this citizen friendly website was launched by Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi IAS and local bodies minister KN Nehru.