how covid 'vaccine hunters' help canadians find appointments
online tools are being created to encourage people to get vaccinated, helping reduce vaccine waste
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by: samantha popehe’s a software engineer by day and vaccine hunter by night.josh kalpin has made it his goal to get covid-19 vaccine shots into people’s arms through an increasingly popular twitter account called “vaccine hunters canada”— one of many tools being created to help people find available appointments and increase vaccine uptake across the country.“it’s our duty as canadians to help those that are most at-risk and vulnerable,” kalpin said. “it’s something tangible every single canadian can do and we’re just here to facilitate that.”kalpin, along with other vaccine hunter volunteers, are aiming to make the vaccine appointment booking process more efficient and comprehensible. with countless booking websites to navigate across canada and growing confusion on how to actually secure your shot, health experts fear a lack of clear, accessible information may lead to vaccine hesitancy.vaccine hunters canada is a fast-growing twitter account, welcoming over 13,000 new followers on monday alone. whenever the team learns of an open vaccination appointment slot for any of the approved vaccines, the account will announce it to their discord chat server and their more than 105,000 twitter followers — a number that continues to rapidly increase with every page refresh. scouring pharmacy, hospital and clinic updates across canada, along with crowd-sourcing information and paying close attention to social media updates from public health units, the account provides a constantly updated stream of open vaccine appointments. the efficient tool is helping eligible citizens navigate this new world, such as kim’s convenience star jean yoon who expressed her gratitude after managing to book an appointment in toronto with help from the tool.when ontario announced on sunday it is expanding astrazeneca eligibility to people 40 years of age and older, kalpin said there was unbelievable excitement on twitter. the team saw an incredible number of people scurry to book appointments, crashing walmart’s website and completely filling up sobey’s appointments. “we just started blasting out pharmacy information all night long, it was like a virtual party,” he said. “people were just so happy that they finally could get an appointment to get their shots so it’s been really, really positive overall.”but as ontario, british columbia, alberta and manitoba expand age eligibility for the astrazeneca vaccine, it comes with accompanying worries that some vials may expire due to last-minute cancellations because of hesitancy over extremely rare blood clots — a risk that has proven to be significantly less compared to blood clots resulting from covid-19. once a vaccine vial is opened, a timer starts ticking before doses are no longer usable and must be discarded. astrazeneca doses are only viable for up to 48 hours when stored in a fridge, or six hours when not refrigerated, according to the government of canada. however, with vaccine appointment-finding tools like vaccine hunters canada, kalpin said he has no doubt it is encouraging people to get shots into their arms before the timer is up. “i don’t have numbers but i would be confident that we have significantly increased the uptake of astrazeneca, at least within the province of ontario and maybe even nationally,” kalpin said. vaccine hunters canada isn’t the only tool that has been created with the goal of reducing vaccine waste. the tool inspired four employees of technology company alida to launch vaccine finder toronto on monday, which aims to help all toronto residents navigate vaccine protocols and get vaccinated faster against covid-19. within hours of launching, the tool already saw thousands of people take to the platform to find where and if they can book appointments, according to project lead daniel charles, who is also vice president of technology at alida.“what we wanted to do was just make it really, really simple for people to find out what the criteria were for vaccine eligibility and then point them to the appropriate website,” charles said. he, like kalpin, said the ultimate goal is to increase vaccine uptake, especially with vaccine hesitancy.“the faster that people get vaccinated in our province, the faster we can get back to normal,” he said. “i don’t want any vaccines to go to waste, so if this can help people get their shot i think we’ve done our job.”a similar tool called #getvaccinated ontario is also helping direct people to find important information about vaccine booking options. its creator, anna berger carey, who has also joined the team at vaccine hunters canada, said she decided to create a vaccine-finding platform after struggling to find information about a vaccine clinic near her toronto home.ontario uses a blend of different booking systems, with different health units going about vaccinating their communities in different ways, causing more confusion in that province compared to elsewhere across canada.but by making it easier for ontarians to book appointments, carey said it will help see as many people vaccinated as possible.“it won’t end the pandemic by itself, but it will make a big difference in what it means to have (covid-19) out there in the world,” she said. “i don’t know about you, but i’ve never in my life had to worry about getting smallpox, measles, rubella, polio, or tetanus. that’s the importance of vaccine uptake.”these tools are exactly what’s needed across canada right now, especially with nationwide vaccine hesitancy and confusion on eligibility and how to book appointments in the first place, according to university of ottawa epidemiologist dr. raywat deonandan.“they’re heroes,” he said. “they’re providing citizens with information that is not readily accessible … it’s great that citizens have self-organized to fill that gap but it’s concerning the government was not able to fill that gap.”in terms of the fear of vaccines expiring, deonandan said it was not something he previously expected would happen. “one scenario i did not anticipate was vaccines expiring — before being used — deep into a third wave. that, of course, is due to hesitancy,” he said. “the (astrazeneca) vaccine is supposed to be the tool that is most likely to get the world back to normal. it’s a shame that we, in canada, can’t seem to embrace it.”like casey, deonandan said vaccines are how humans got to where we are now, with longer lifespans, global travel, and the full expectation that our children will not die before their first birthday. providing accessible information on how to get these life-saving vaccines, he said, is how we’ll continue to keep people safe.“human civilization right now exists, in large part, because we embrace vaccination despite its minute flaws,” he said. as for kalpin, he said vaccine hunters canada will continue to provide accessible information to the public so one day we can go back to hugging our grandparents and having beers with friends. “we’re not going to stop until the job is done, where we have to find people to get appointments versus finding appointments for people,” he said. “we just want this nightmare of a pandemic to be over.”
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