How to win race for Covid-19 vaccination registration

The third phase of Indiarsquos Covid19 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 reachVaccine beneficiaries queued up at Nair hospital on Wednesday PicSuresh KarkeraMany from the heavilypopulated city have been going to farflung corners of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR amid the high pressure on centres here However there have been success stories and midday reached out to people who managed to secure the shot for a handy guideAlso Read Covid19 List of vaccination centres functioning in Mumbai on May 13Be updated luck is importantAniruddh 29 and Kayal Kothari 28 a couple from Bandra got vaccinated at the BKC Jumbo Centre on May 6 ldquoI 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 steprdquo said KayalThe duo managed to book a slot for the next day ldquoLog 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 1844 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 chancerdquo Aniruddh saidAniruddh and Kayal KotharildquoYou obviously need to be lucky toordquo the duo said ldquoWe 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 doesnrsquot load but we stayed online Luck may have made it work We need to give the website time as it has an enormous loadrdquo the duo saidBook individual slotsFardeen Shaikh a community manager and operations associate from Andheri was vaccinated on May 4 at Cooper hospital ldquoI got lucky on May 3 when after finishing iftaari I logged in to CoWIN around 715 pm and got an alert that BMC would be opening the slots at 730 pm I have switched on notifications for BMCrsquos posts on Twitter and Instagramrdquo Shaikh saidldquoAll seveneight 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 doesnrsquot come If it has to come it will within just a few seconds otherwise it wonrsquot Try switching off your WiFi and switching it back on keep your browser and phone cache clean so that therersquos no load And lastly each person should book their own slot from their device instead of putting everyonersquos names through one accountrdquo Shaikh saidLike playing a gameAnchal Arora Kachchhy got vaccinated on May 3 along with her brotherinlaw and sisterinlaw at SevenHills hospital ldquoI work for Twitter and spend a lot of time on the application which is why I was able to spot BMCrsquos updates On May 2 the BMC tweeted that slots would open at 730 pm I logged in to the CoWIN portal at 720 pm In my experience Aarogya Setu never shows available slots datewiserdquo Kachchhy saidFardeen ShaikhldquoIt was very new for us and like playing a game My sisterinlaw and I tried to book slots for the three of us When I hit search at 730 the portal showed BKC Jumbo centre and SevenHills having slots Parameters such as age group and paidfree option were not available then My sisterinlaw managed to confirm our appointments at SevenHillsrdquo Kachchhy saidKachchhy suggested logging in on CoWIN at least 1015 minutes before the slots open ldquoHowever reports are coming in that nowadays if you log in beforehand you may be logged out when you refresh search resultsrdquo Kachchhy saidldquoHave your documentation preuploaded use multiple laptops and donrsquot be picky about the location Take whatever centre you can get You are allowed to travel for vaccination if the centre is far awayrdquo Kachchhy saidImportant things to remembergtgt Keep track of BMCrsquos posts on Twitter Instagram to know when slots open switch on notifications for new postsgtgt Add only one or two candidates per account donrsquot try to add several membersgtgt Log in to CoWIN 1015 minutes before slots opengtgt Prefer using a laptop multiple devices if possible with a stable internet connectiongtgt Donrsquot be picky about locations take whichever centre you getMay 6Day Aniruddh and Kayal Kothari were vaccinatedMay 4Day Fardeen Shaikh was vaccinatedMay 3Day Anchal Arora Kachchhy was vaccinated