In order to accelerate the pace of the vaccination campaign in the UAE, Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has started an AI-enabled service to allow residents to book their COVID-19 vaccine appointment via WhatsApp. The new service also uses the DHA's hotline, which was introduced last year, to resolve public concerns about the COVID-19 disease.

Residents can book a vaccination appointment at a DHA facility by sending a message saying “Hi” to 800 342 on WhatsApp. Later, the users will be asked to submit their medical record number, select their nearest vaccination centre and book their preferred date and time. Once the process gets completed, the service will send a confirmation of the vaccine appointment on the user's phone.

According to the DHA, more than 150,000 COVID-19 queries have been addressed by the authority through the WhatsApp hotline since the launch of the automated chatbot service in April 2020. The service runs for 24 hours across multiple languages.

In this regard, Fatma Al Khajah, director of the Customer Happiness Department at DHA, affirmed that the new service will bolster the vaccination drive in the emirate in order to combat the pandemic.

"Through the use of AI technology and this additional channel to book an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine, we aim to provide community members with the utmost convenience," she added.

Ramez Shehadi, managing director of Facebook MENA, stressed the importance of connecting with the public and disseminating accurate official health information during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook MENA has partnered with the DHA to manage the WhatsApp service in the emirate.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has collaborated with more than 150 national, state and local governments and international institutions such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF to support the global efforts against the pandemic.

Reportedly, more than two billion people are using WhatsApp across the world, with over three billion messages sent to COVID-19 helplines globally in the past year.