The Big Apple’s online appointment system for the COVID-19 vaccine is so bad, a team of volunteers has created their own website to help guide New Yorkers to the coveted slots.
The NYC Vaccine List, which launched on Jan. 13, pulls together in one place available vaccine appointments from 45 locations across the five boroughs and nearby suburbs, including Long Island and Westchester County.
The effort was applauded Wednesday by Councilman Mark Levine, the chair of the council’s Committee on Health and a frequent critic of the city’s vaccine rollout.
“I am just in awe of what these volunteers have built and it’s what the city has desperately needed,” Levine told The Post after tweeting the NYC Vaccine List is “the hottest website in NYC now.”
“Of course it’s outrageous that it took volunteers to do this and government, at any level, hasn’t stepped in with its resources, but it does prove we can build something better for the public that can simplify what is a very chaotic process for scheduling right now.”
Currently, in order to find a vaccine through the city’s own convoluted system, residents have to sort through a hundred public and private vaccine sites, fill out their information on individual pages and pray there’s an open appointment.
If there’s not, they have to start the process over again or continue clicking refresh on the vaccination site of their choice.
The city has a Vaccine Finder portal, but it just feeds out to the individual websites and does not track available appointments. The city also has three separate websites to sign up for shots at its own sites, depending on what kind of clinic they are.
Meanwhile, the state has its own sign-up site for its facilities.
“It’s just an incredibly fractured system that requires you to visit the website of dozens of providers and register and do an eligibility screen at each one,” Levine said.
“It can take hours, days even, and it’s complicated, you need to have practical know-how. Obviously seniors, [who are] the most vulnerable, I think are facing the biggest obstacles in this registration system.”
On the NYC Vaccine List, volunteers are aiming to provide real-time information on where open vaccine appointments are by checking the websites of clinics, pharmacies and other locations that have been distributing the booster.
“NYC Vaccine List was born on January 13, 2021 with a simple goal: get more people vaccinated and help them spend less time navigating websites,” the site’s about section explains.
“We gather appointment data from multiple sites into one table so you won’t have to visit them individually.”
The page has received praise from elected officials and even former first daughter Chelsea Clinton.
“If you or someone in your life in #NYC is eligible for the #covid19 vaccine, here’s a helpful tool to find open appointments,” Clinton tweeted Tuesday with a link to the website.
