A new COVID-19 vaccine tracking website has been launched and promises to accurately track and report which pharmacies near users have vaccines in stock and ready to be administered.
Intended to cut down on frustration vaccine-seekers have been feeling, the site has been promoted by the state of Kentucky and mentioned in briefings by President Joe Biden. It's not fully running in Ohio yet, but the Buckeye state and all 49 others are expected to be up to speed in two months, when Biden promised every adult in the United States would become eligible to receive a vaccine.
"We've had millions of users and an incredible amount of feedback that people are now actually using the site to get vaccines and, you know, cutting down on all that amount of time people are spending clicking around and getting frustrated," said Dr. John Brownstein, of Boston Children's Hospital.
Brownstein founded the initial concept of the site during the H1N1 pandemic, and was brought on board Operation Warp Speed four months ago. He said, while there can be some lag in data aggregation, the site stays very fresh and is able to report each morning what doses are in hand and where.
"All COVID providers of the vaccine have to log in with us and provide daily inventory levels," he said.
Users can search for providers with a preferred vaccine maker from the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Then the site will search by zip code to determine which pharmacies or health departments within 50 miles of the user has the vaccine in stock. From there, the user can access phone numbers and links to sign up for appointments.
