My Covishield Vaccination Experience at Bangalore :

My work at The Mom Store required me to be in office every day for e-commerce dispatch operations and so I wanted get my dispatch team and myself vaccinated early in the process so that we can ensure our safety.

I got my first Covishield shot today at DCHC Leprosy Hospital Bangalore and wanted to share my experience for those who may have questions about booking and vaccination process and are yet to go through the same.

Booking Process:

1.    Downloaded the Telegram App and signed up for the U45 Vaccine Alert Group

2.    As soon as slots become available, the group sends an alert with pin code and slots available

3.    Smart Tip - Do not book from your phone, it takes more time to sign in and register every time with OTP. When you want to book, tune in around the time slots open (usually 6-9 PM in the evening and 7-10 AM in morning) and keep logged in to Cowin portal on your laptop as the session doesn't expire for a long time unlike the phone where it expires immediately.

4. Slots are released at multiple times of the day at multiple locations. You can book up to 4 people added as beneficiaries in your account and book all at a time. I however, did 2 bookings at a time to increase my chances of success.

5.    As soon as the Cowin alert comes on the telegram app, enter the pincode and you will see slots available (this needs to be done within 5 seconds).

6.    Book the slot immediately by confirming the time and captcha at the end of the process.

7.    You will get a confirmation pdf document that will have your slot timings and secret code that will be needed at the center

Vaccination Process:

I was scheduled for vaccination at a Govt. Health Center so the process was free of cost.

1.    For a slot of 10AM, I reached the center at 8:30 AM. There were already 8-10 people.

2.    People queued up without any resistance or panic and without anyone managing the queue. By the time it was 10 AM the queue was about 70 people long

3.    While you are selecting the slot on the portal, they do not schedule you according to the time booked. It’s purely on first come first serve basis

4.    They started letting people in around 10:10 AM. 45 years+ were vaccinated first

5.    Post that, they started calling in people 5 at a time. There were staff at two desks who were taking down the phone number on which the appointment was booked and the secret code of the application downloaded from Cowin portal at time of confirmation

6.    Once confirmed, you were given a token and led into the vaccination room. It was spacious, airy, very hygienic, well managed and clean.

7.    The nurse administers the vaccine and informs that this is Covishield and a second dose is needed after 6 weeks.

8.    We are asked to rest for 15 min and then leave. We are also advised to take Dolo 650 mg in case fever occurs or there are any mild side effects

 The overall experience was good. It was well managed, organized, social distancing was followed and there was no rush.

Given that Bangalore is in a complete lockdown, many roads were blocked and heavily patrolled by traffic police. I was stopped at least 5 times on my way back but just had to show my vaccination confirmation pdf on my phone and they did zoom in on the date to check.