Britons resort to ticket tout-style software to book vaccine appointments

Even medics have resorted to online tools to gain competitive advantage for appointments

Health workers are among the Britons using software similar to that used by ticket touts to secure appointments for vaccinations.

Almost 1,000 Britons are using Visualping to track NHS webpages and receive an email alert when a new appointment slot opens up.

Even when they receive a letter or email telling them it is their turn, medics are struggling to find appointments, they claim. But ready-made trackers, which scan a webpage every 15 minutes to spot any changes, are used for sweeping up tickets when concerts are announced or when items on retailer’s websites are in stock.

Those tracking are sharing openings on Facebook groups to help friends and family get seen quicker.

Emergency care assistant Sean Baker said: “I got an invite for my vaccination but the appointment booking system only booked a week in advance and there were no slots available.

Even those who are eligible for a jab are using software to track websites for appointments as the slots book up so quickly

“I knew the website would be updated but didn’t have time to be checking it during a 12-hour shift.”

An NHS doctor who wished to remain anonymous said: “This approach is not much different from being notified about a slot on a WhatsApp group. 

The trend for tracking vaccine appointments has soared in the United States, where more than 10,000 are using Visualping to monitor appointments to gain "competitive advantage", the company said. 

There, people living in states with lower doses use the web crawler to track pharmacy and medical centre websites in states that are better supplied, or are vaccinating generational and occupational priority groups at a faster rate.