How to win race for Covid-19 vaccination registration

A woman in the age group of 18-44 years gets vaccinated at Nair hospital on Wednesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The third phase of India's Covid-19 vaccination drive, for people aged between 18 and 44 years, kicked off on May 1 but successfully booking a slot on the CoWIN portal or Aarogya Setu app has turned out to be the trickiest task. It is impossible to book slots if one is not aware of when they open, people have to also contend with technical glitches. But if you know the right tricks, success could be within reach.

Vaccine beneficiaries queued up at Nair hospital on Wednesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Many from the heavily-populated city have been going to far-flung corners of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) amid the high pressure on centres here. However, there have been success stories and mid-day reached out to people who managed to secure the shot for a handy guide.

Also Read: Covid-19: List of vaccination centres functioning in Mumbai on May 13

Be updated, luck is important

Aniruddh, 29, and Kayal Kothari, 28, a couple from Bandra, got vaccinated at the BKC Jumbo Centre on May 6. "I found the slots booked every time. By May 3, I had figured out the chronology. The first step is to follow BMC on Twitter and Instagram. They post slot timings a day ahead. Knowing when the slots open is the most important step," said Kayal.

The duo managed to book a slot for the next day. "Log in to the website five to 10 minutes before. It is better to use a laptop or desktop with a stable internet connection. Also, do not search for a centre using the zip code as that narrows down the area and thus, centres, drastically. Search using state and district and select the 18-44 filter. Also, do not refresh the browser to update the list, hit the search button. If you refresh the page, you will be logged out and miss your chance," Aniruddh said.

Aniruddh and Kayal Kothari

"You obviously need to be lucky, too," the duo said. "We also struggled at the confirm page when it did not load on the first two days. But on May 5, instead of refreshing the search results, we stayed on the page for a couple of extra minutes and it generated the confirmation slip. People tend to back out when the confirmation page doesn't load but we stayed online. Luck may have made it work. We need to give the website time as it has an enormous load," the duo said.

Book individual slots

Fardeen Shaikh, a community manager and operations associate from Andheri, was vaccinated on May 4 at Cooper hospital. "I got lucky on May 3 when after finishing iftaari, I logged in to CoWIN around 7.15 pm and got an alert that BMC would be opening the slots at 7.30 pm. I have switched on notifications for BMC's posts on Twitter and Instagram," Shaikh said.

"All seven-eight of us from the family used to play the vaccination Olympics every evening. There were days when I was using two phones and two laptops simultaneously. One of the main problems is that often, the OTP doesn't come. If it has to come, it will within just a few seconds, otherwise it won't. Try switching off your WiFi and switching it back on, keep your browser and phone cache clean so that there's no load. And lastly, each person should book their own slot from their device instead of putting everyone's names through one account," Shaikh said.

Like playing a game

Anchal Arora Kachchhy got vaccinated on May 3 along with her brother-in-law and sister-in-law at SevenHills hospital. "I work for Twitter and spend a lot of time on the application, which is why I was able to spot BMC's updates. On May 2, the BMC tweeted that slots would open at 7.30 pm. I logged in to the CoWIN portal at 7.20 pm. In my experience, Aarogya Setu never shows available slots date-wise," Kachchhy said.

Fardeen Shaikh

"It was very new for us and like playing a game. My sister-in-law and I tried to book slots for the three of us. When I hit search at 7.30, the portal showed BKC Jumbo centre and SevenHills having slots. Parameters such as age group and paid/free option were not available then. My sister-in-law managed to confirm our appointments at SevenHills," Kachchhy said.

Kachchhy suggested logging in on CoWIN at least 10-15 minutes before the slots open. "However, reports are coming in that nowadays, if you log in beforehand, you may be logged out when you refresh search results," Kachchhy said.

"Have your documentation pre-uploaded, use multiple laptops and don't be picky about the location. Take whatever centre you can get. You are allowed to travel for vaccination if the centre is far away," Kachchhy said.

Important things to remember

>> Keep track of BMC's posts on Twitter, Instagram to know when slots open; switch on notifications for new posts
>> Add only one or two candidates per account, don't try to add several members
>> Log in to CoWIN 10-15 minutes before slots open
>> Prefer using a laptop, multiple devices if possible, with a stable internet connection
>> Don't be picky about locations, take whichever centre you get

May 6
Day Aniruddh and Kayal Kothari were vaccinated

May 4
Day Fardeen Shaikh was vaccinated

May 3
Day Anchal Arora Kachchhy was vaccinated