Google is complementing the government’s effort in disseminating awareness about vaccination amidst the latest surge in coronavirus cases. It is featuring an animated doodle on its website to flash its visitor with a message to get themselves inoculated at the earliest and follow covid protocols as wearing a mask and sanitizing.

India in the last week has witnessed a surge of more than 2 lakh Covid cases. In the wake of such developments, lockdown and travel restrictions are renewed in manners varied and people are ardently exhorted to adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour.

In an effort to evade havoc like the situation created last year because of delta variant, the government has ramped up its vaccination efforts which have been running slack. It has announced vaccination for beneficiaries in the age group of 15-18. With the recent approval, now anyone in India age 15 or above is eligible for two Covid vaccine doses at an interval prescribed based on the vaccine administered.

Google had now joined in the Government’s and activists’ efforts who are trying hard to get people to vaccination centres as vaccination is the only way to reduce hospitalizations and fight the severity of the disease.

 It has released an animated doodle in which all the letters of the word ‘Google’ are seen to be wearing a mask and sporting a band-aid on their shoulders insinuating that they have been vaccinated. Google has also provided the option of sharing the doodle with acquaintances on different channels.

Clicking on the doodle redirects you to a page displaying your nearest vaccination centres. On the lines of features like ‘groceries near me’ or ‘cinema near me’, the page with the heading ‘Covid-19 vaccine near me’ locates the nearest hospitals or health centres where you can get inoculated.

 It is not new that Google supports vaccination is working to bolster efforts for Covid mitigation. It has been consistently proactive in raising awareness about Covid appropriate behaviour and accepted norms to be followed. Following the advent of the omicron variant and revived efforts to immunise the rest section of the population, Google has also started playing its bit.