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Mukesh Aggarwal has created a free channel on an app that helps Bay Area residents find available appointments for the coronavirus vaccine due to his own frustration and difficulty finding an appointment for his parents.
He said it was difficult to keep track of all the different sites – run by a myriad of government agencies, pharmacies and healthcare providers – for an appointment, especially when they are made so quickly.
And with vaccine eligibility opening to Californians 50 and over on Thursday and every 16 and over on April 15, demand is expected to skyrocket. Officials say it could take weeks for the offer to catch up.
“If I have a hard time, people who aren’t tech-savvy will have a harder time,” said Aggarwal, software engineer at Intuit and resident of Fremont.
He created the Marut Bot app that scans websites for available appointments hourly from most public and private providers except Kaiser. The app then alerts users of the BayAreaVaccineNotification channel on the Telegram chat app.
A screenshot of the BayAreaVaccineNotification channel on the Telegram chat app.
BayAreaVaccineNotificationThe channel had around 200 people a month ago. As of Wednesday, there were over 10,300 subscribers.
The app scratches over 100 vaccination sites for remote driving appointments in the Bay Area. “People don’t even know there are so many vendors around them,” Aggarwal said.
Many Bay Area residents walked long distances or lined up at vaccination sites at 2 a.m. to look for available appointments, he said.
Mukesh Aggarwal, a software engineer from Fremont, has created a free channel on an app that helps Bay area residents find available appointments for the coronavirus vaccine.
Courtesy of Mukesh AggarwalAggarwal said he is working on a partnership with other developers to expand their reach, possibly outside of the Bay Area. Demand appears high, given the frustrations expressed by thousands of members of the Bay Area Vaccine Hunters Facebook group, who are posting articles about their attempts to book dates.
“It will not be realistic to expect people to check [provider websites] frequently, ”said Aggarwal, who is a member of the group.
Providers “should find a way to get the information to them,” he said.
Aggarwal said he expects nothing in return for his efforts, but wants people to “pay up front” and help at least one underrated or non-techie to get an appointment for a vaccine.
Here’s how to sign up for the BayAreaVaccineNotification channel if you have an iPhone or Android (more detailed instructions can be found here):
• Install the Telegram app on your phone.
• Open an account by entering your phone number and your first and last name.
• On your phone browser, go to https://t.me/bayareavaccinenotification or click this link. You can also search for “Bayareavaccinenotification” in the search bar.
• Click on “show in Telegram”, which will bring you back to the application and click on join.
If you need help making an appointment or have questions about the process, you can join the Bay Area Vaccine Hunters Facebook group, where users share tips.
Jessica Flores is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @jesssmflores
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