Got my first dose #vaccination done in #bengaluru today. Went the private hospital route for 18-45 yr category. Documenting my process of booking and at #apollo here ; hope this helps folks 1/

Was ok with any of the private hospitals. Kept an eye out on the U45 telegram channel to figure out when the different hospitals opened up. Fairly random ; but you can get some pattern out of it. Mostly at a few minutes past a half-hour or hourly boundary (eg 4:05 ; 2:33 etc) 2/

I just read somewhere that Telegram notifications depend on your phone's notification polling settings. Download the telegram desktop app for better accuracy. 3/

Log in 5-10 minutes before the aforesaid boundaries. So that, if you are like me, you can get the OTP in time and still have few minutes to book. And just keep clicking on "Check availability" followed by the 18-45 filter radio button (yes, its a pain it gets reset every time).4/

You cannot do this for every hour. So choose your battle. Morning times are good. OTPs arrive on time. I tried 6AM, 630AM, 7AM, 9AM and 930AM. Try for a few minutes and then give up. And go do your work. And try back again in the next boundary. Chill. It will take 2-3 days. 5/

I am sorry, that there is no other way at this time. You gotta keep trying for a few days. Good thing is there is a captcha now - so the script-kiddos dont take your hundreds of slots in 2 seconds. You have 5-6 seconds for your fast fingers. Almost like tatkal. 6/

Use a desktop or laptop if you can. Use an external keyboard and mouse if you can. Tab keyboard focus points etc do not work on the site. You gotta use your mouse and keyboard. I had a hard time initially with the touchpad of my laptop. 7/

Try to be on a good network. Either a fast wifi or good 4g. I have heard of folks whose captcha did not load - probably because of bad network. 8/

I had a 9-11 slot in the morning. Thanks to @geetanjalic tweet-thread, I knew I had to be there an hour early. Was there around 8:15AM. This was Apollo Bannerghatta road. If you are early, you get a decent parking space also. You got to collect a token when you get there. 9/

My token was 47. So basically 46 folks had arrived before 815AM for a 9-11 slot. Most folks were patiently waiting. They give you a consent form that you can fill in. Take a pen with you. Around 915AM, they start calling you in groups of 10. 10/

Each group of 10 took about 15-20 mins. I was called around 1025AM. Once you get in, you sit down in social distanced seating. And the billing counter ladies (2 of them) will call your token no. You show them your appointment slip, photo id, and pay (yes QR code was there). 11/

Once you pay, you are ushered into one of the rooms behind where there are two nurses jabbing in parallel. You get to ask any questions if you want. Get jabbed and you return through another side back to the reception area, where they will give you a cert. 12/

Between the time your slot gets called (the 10 of you) and you are out, it is a maximum of about 15 minutes. They did not recommend any waiting time. I asked if I should. The nurse said, you could wait for about 10 minutes if you want, which I did in my car. 13/

Lastly, I realize that getting the jab (for Rs. 850/-) is a privilege and I am thankful for it. This tweet-thread is for those like me, who are privileged and would want to get jabbed. I don't mean to trivialize anything in this process. 14/fin