Need help booking vaccine slots in India? Read this

Slots are opened several times a day but are always booked within seconds. Listed below are several resources and information to help increase your chances of booking your covid 19 vaccine appointment with ease. Read till the end for the whole process

If you are not familiar with the slot booking process on Cowin, click here to read the step-by-step guide covid 19 vaccine registration on the Cowin portal/website.

Updates:

• You can call at ‘1075‘ if you reside in rural areas and book your slot.
• Students planning to go abroad can get their vaccinations done in Mumbai at priority after producing all the relevant documents.

Source: BMC

• Walk-in registration for vaccination for the 18–44 age group has begun. However, the option is only open at some government-run Covid vaccination centers for now.

Important Things to Know About Slot Booking:

• Use the “Search” button to refresh rather than the browser refresh button: When looking for slots, click the ‘search’ button to refresh and be updated about the latest availability of slots. Don’t log in and sit idle on the booking page, you will have to keep clicking on the ‘search’ button at regular intervals. Follow this by clicking on your age group filter.

• Fast Internet: This is very crucial so try to use a high-speed and reliable connection. If you’re using Wifi, try sitting near your wifi router, or if you’re using your phone data, make sure that your signal strength is excellent. Test your internet speed on https://www.speedtest.net/
• Use your Laptop or Personal Computer: Booking through a pc gives you more accessibility and is faster than booking on any portable device such as a phone or tablet. Clear your browser cache/cookies and close other tabs preferably if possible.
• The Cowin portal/website auto logs out automatically after 15 minutes: Set a timer of 13–14 minutes on your clock as soon as you log in after putting the OTP. After the timer goes off, re-login from another tab.
• Search for vaccines via your State and District rather than pin code: This will show you more centers compared to a particular pin code. But be careful while booking as some centers might be a bit too far from your location.
• Sort via your age group for more accurate results. If it’s your second dose, there is also an option to sort via your vaccine type. If it’s your first dose, get whichever vaccine you can. Be it Covishield, Covaxin or Sputnik V

How to know when the slots would be available?

Though there is almost no certain way of knowing when the slots in the area would open, here are certain ways that might help:

• Be part of your city or district’s Telegram channels or slot notifiers which notify you almost instantly when slots open (I have shared the links below)
• Authorities in certain places announce it on their Twitter handles, for example, BMC in Mumbai gives regular updates about slot availability and booking
• Ask your friends who have booked their slots on what time were they able to book, usually the slots of certain centers open at the same time every day

Vaccine Slot Notifiers:

These are external applications developed by third-party individuals which notify you of slot availability instantly so you don’t have to stay online all day:

• https://under45.in/index.php — under45 informs you of slot availability on the Telegram phone application. Only for ages between 18–44
• https://above45.in/: Only for ages above 45. Informs of slot availability on Telegram application
• https://getjab.in/ — GetJab informs you of slot availability on your email. Only for 18–44
• https://www.vaccinateme.in/covid/?type=district — informs you as well as shows vaccine slot availability. For all ages,
• https://kanaksinghal.github.io/cowin-watcher/ — plays an alert sound in the background to inform you instantly. For all ages (Fastest at the time of writing this)
• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/covid-vaccine-slot-checke/hmmahfccoa– Google Chrome extension which informs of slot availability on your desktop. For all ages
• Paytm has launched a vaccine finder tool on their app

Credits: To Respective Owners

Note: These sites will only inform you of slot availability, not book your slots. Also, there is a 5–10 second delay between when the slots actually open and you get the notifications on Telegram

• Anticipate slot opening time through Slot Notifiers: After joining the Telegram channel of your district, you can scroll up and note down the previous day’s slot opening time. You will often find a pattern in which the slots open. For example, the slots might open every day between 5 to 6 pm. This will save your time and help you be online when slots open thereby increasing of getting vaccinated against covid-19.

An example of how to anticipate opening time. Here we can see ABC Hospital opens its slot between 10:30 and 11:15 pm every day.

Note: It is not possible to anticipate timing for every slot with total certainty. Some open at random and some might break the pattern and open at a different time than previous days.

• Using Auto clicker: This time-saving application can be installed on Mac or Windows PC but requires advanced knowledge. Clicking on the search button and then on the age filter button constantly gets tiring and you can’t get anything else done. An auto clicker application might just help here. This application clicks automatically for you at regular intervals without you needing to do anything. Just pay a bit of attention to the screen and look out for any slots that have turned green. Just search Auto click on Google and you will find many free options to download. (Do scan them for viruses before using)

Click here to know how to use Auto-Clicker

Note: You cannot do anything else on your computer while using this application. Also, properly know how this application works because it can click anywhere unwanted automatically.

Full Process:

• Use the vaccine notifiers or any other means to know about the approximate slot opening time
• Login to the Cowin website around this time and set a timer of 13–14 minutes so you know when to re-login
• Click on the schedule button below your name. At the time of writing this, you can only book for one person at a time.
• Search via your state and district name
• Click on your age group filter or any other filters if you require
• Look for open slots by the date, your current date’s slots are almost always going to be red or fully booked. If it’s “NA” that means the slots have not opened yet today and will open.
• If you see a green slot, quickly click it and fill up the security code. Click on any time slot quickly. Most vaccination centers only notice your date of vaccination, not your preferred time slot.
• If the slots still have not opened, keep clicking on the search and filter button at regular intervals to see the latest availability. Or download Auto-clicker to help you out.
• Download the appointment letter and reach your center on time! Click here to know how to get a free cab ride to the vaccination center and other important things before going to the vaccination center

Keep checking this page for the latest tips and updates. Also, bookmark this page for help during your second dose and share it with your friends and family. Stay Safe!

DISCLAIMER

Any action you take upon the information on this page is strictly at your OWN risk and the author will NOT be liable for any damages or losses in connection with the use of this page.