City youths develop ‘vaccine tracker’ software code

Nagpur: Three youths have written a software code to track available vaccine slots and sends details on Telegram mobile app. Launched on Monday, this service is currently available only for Nagpur, Mumbai and Pune, with plans to expand soon.
Suchdeep Singh Juneja, Likhit Agrawal and Alisha Nathani are co-founders of this free-to-use service, which aims to save time for end users. Juneja said, “Currently, those who wish to get vaccinated keep searching for available slots on Co-Win site or app. So you may have to sit in front of your screen for hours at end and constantly refresh the window while searching for a clinic.” It’s this tedious process that these three electronic engineers have found a way around.
Nathani said they have used the application programming interface (API) put in public domain by the central government as a tool to communicate with the server, where information about vaccine is available. “So now, instead of a human being constantly sitting on a computer and searching for vaccine slots, we have the software code doing the same thing for us. And it’s doing it constantly 24/7,” said Nathani.
Agrawal said, “Our code communicates with the server and gets information about available slots. It then puts that data in a readable text format and publishes it in our Telegram app channel called ‘Nagpur Vaccine Tracker’. Similarly, people can go to Mumbai and Pune vaccine tracker channels and subscribe to get updates in real time.”
The message which flashes on the Telegram channel informs about the centre’s name, pin code, date of availability, name of vaccine, eligibility age group and whether it’s free or paid.
Juneja said, “The end user then simply has to enter the pin code in Co-Win site and choose the specific centre, as we have already provided the name. So this is clearly a much faster process for everyone.”
Though the trio wants to expand their service, there are technical issues. Agrawal said, “Currently we are running the entire thing from our home laptop. To expand, we need a bigger server, more power to ensure 24/7 operations. And this is a free service, so if someone is willing to collaborate and pitch-in, we can expand to other cities as well.”