San Francisco: Apple has started highlighting centres and clinics administering Covid-19 vaccinations on its Maps app and on Siri in the US.
The Apple Maps place card for each vaccine site will include the operating hours, address, phone numbers, and a link to the provider’s website, where Maps users can learn more about available vaccines and book appointments.
“The initial rollout includes more than 20,000 locations, with Apple adding more sites in the coming weeks,” the company said in a statement.
Along with the data provided by VaccineFinder, healthcare providers, labs, or other businesses can submit information on Covid-19 testing or vaccination locations on the Apple Business Register page. Once validated, Apple may display information about the testing or vaccination locations to people using Apple services such as Apple Maps.
Additionally, Apple released a mobility data trends tool from Apple Maps to support the impactful work happening worldwide to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
This mobility data may provide helpful insights to local governments and health authorities, and may also be used as a foundation for new public policies by showing the change in volume of people driving, walking, or taking public transit in their communities.
Apple Maps also includes Covid-19 testing locations in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the US, along with Covid-19 modules for businesses to share special hours and other information.