FAQ | WhatsApp Business

As of March 31, 2021, pharmacies can be onboarded on WhatsApp for restricted use cases, namely for medical services, such as vaccine administration and medical testing, especially to provide people with helpful information about COVID-19 vaccine in their local area.

Pharmacies that provide medical services will be allowed to do activities currently allowed from other medical services, such as doctor’s offices and hospitals. Examples include:

• Send personalized updates about a person’s eligibility to receive the vaccine
• Schedule appointments for testing and vaccine administration
• Answer user-initiated questions about testing and vaccines
• Establish a chatbot to respond to frequently asked questions about their medical services, including COVID-19 and vaccine information
• Appointment follow-ups

Pharmacies are still prohibited from promoting or selling drugs, medical devices, and other goods restricted by the Commerce Policy. They are also prohibited from using WhatsApp Business solutions for customer care use-cases that are not related to the administration of medical services. For example, a pharmacy’s healthcare clinic would be allowed to send a person an update about when they can receive a vaccine, but would not be allowed to provide customer support for its retail services.

Businesses in this vertical are now also allowed to send transactional notifications, with opt-in required, on the WhatsApp Business API. In approved countries (Indonesia, Mexico) where we are testing non-transactional notifications, they may also send these types of notifications and should follow our opt-in policy.

This expansion of medical services does not apply to entities operating in the U.S. or France due to heightened regulatory restrictions regarding health data. If medical services in these countries attempt to onboard the WhatsApp platform, they will be rejected.

If a pharmacy has separate clinical laboratory or patient care services then that division may be onboarded as an entity independent from the pharmacy. In order for a pharmacy’s medical service division to successfully onboard onto WA Business solutions, the entity must meet the following requirements:

1. The proposed display name for the WABA must include a reference to the laboratory, clinical, testing, and/or vaccination service (i.e. Healthcare Clinic at [Pharmacy name])
2. The entity’s website must clearly confirm that they are engaged in vaccination administration and/or the administration of medical testing.

For any questions, please get in touch with support@tyntec.com