VaccineBotTO
VaccineBotTO is a Twitter bot (@to_vaccine) that periodically checks community clinic booking websites in West and Downtown East Toronto, and tweets about available slots for eligible populations.
Another sister project, Vaccine Tracker Ontario (@VacTrackOntario), tracks the vaccination progress in Ontario. An update is tweeted automatically daily. The data is obtained from Ontario Data Catalogue.
Open Data
On May 9, 2021, the historical data collected by the bot is made publically available, to enable the community to freely conduct analysis on this interesting dataset.
The data is offered in two formats (both are updated in real-time by the bot):
- Human-readable Google spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MLZ381cfPDUeXxW90wYabaFHu6Ax6lT60VRcXgi5Bdo/edit?usp=sharing
- Raw data:
- Data prior to May 1, 2021 were obtained by the bot mimicking human users visiting each booking websites, and the raw log can be downloaded at: https://lindayi.me/downloads/to_vaccine/bot_record_before_20210501.tsv
- Format: TSV file with four columns: check time, location, date of appointments, and slots left on that date.
- Data between May 1, 2021 and May 31, 2021 were obtained from Verto Health API, and the raw historical response from the API can be downloaded at: https://lindayi.me/downloads/to_vaccine/verto_api.json
- Format: JSON file with each row storing one record of the JSON response returned by the Verto Health API.
- Data on and after May 31, 2021 were again obtained by the bot mimicking human users visiting each booking websites, and the raw data will be available soon.
- Data prior to May 1, 2021 were obtained by the bot mimicking human users visiting each booking websites, and the raw log can be downloaded at: https://lindayi.me/downloads/to_vaccine/bot_record_before_20210501.tsv
Backstory
The bot was developed as a weekend project, out of my own frustration with the booking systems from my booking experience. The first version was released on Apr 18, 2021, and without any self-promotion, it somehow accumulated hundreds of followers within a week. After the Toronto Star media coverage, it reached 3k+ followers in the following weeks.
More about the backstory can be read from the Toronto Star media coverage, or the Twitter thread without the paywall.
I was also interviewed by the Kelly Cutrara show at Global News Radio – 640 Toronto. Unfortunately I cannot find a recording of the show online.
