Booking a slot on #CoWinApp for the 18-44 age group citizens is more like participating in a lucky draw. The slots get full within few seconds and the person is only left with the hope to be lucky the next day.

While there has been a lot of vaccine stock crunch, BMC, the civic body of Mumbai is trying hard to make the vaccines available for everyone above 18 years of age.

Many vaccine centers are running dry due to the non-availability of vaccine stocks, the BMC on its Twitter handle and social media platforms have started announcing real-time updates about the vaccine drive plan in the city. While most of the time, the plan includes the number of stock available, hospitals carrying out vaccination drives for 18-44 age group citizens and 45+ age group citizens; what is becoming challenging for the digitally savvy younger age group people is to book the slot.

Many citizens have been complaining about the fact that they either don't receive the one-time password (OTP) or till the time they receive the OTP, slots are fully booked and hence unavailable.

It is just a matter of a fraction of seconds. But the wait feels like never-ending to be the lucky one.

In this third phase of vaccination, the 18-44 age group citizens are not allowed for walk-ins vaccination. Only those who registered via the #CoWIN app are allowed to take the vaccine. So, the only way to get the vaccine is to try to get the slot online.

Last week, when the CoWin portal was open for registration of people above 18 years of age, the portal crashed.

My comic strip on Whether it is a Lucky Draw Lottery or Registration for Vaccine Slot Booking?