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Need the COVID-19 vaccine? This website will text you when one is available nearby

Think of it as the airline ‘standby list’ of COVID-19 vaccines

This photo provided by Chorus Photography, Skippack Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Dr. Mayank Amin administers vaccine to Aubrie Cusumano while son, Luca looks on Feb. 11, 2021, in Skippack, Pa. In communities across the country, local pharmacy owners are among the people administering COVID-19 vaccinations. Being a vaccine provider requires a big investment of time and paperwork, and for some, finding a location for a mass vaccination clinic. (BP Miller/Chorus Photography via AP) (Bp Miller, © 2021 - www.chorusphotography.com)

As hundreds of thousands of Americans seek to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in the U.S., those who are eligible to receive it can now sign up to be on a standby list for the vaccine where they will be notified via text message when one is available.

The website is called Dr. B, and according to USA Today, more than half a million people have already signed up for it. The website texts users on standby for a vaccine based on their eligibility status when there are extra doses nearby at risk of going unused.

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While the website currently only serves those in New York and Arkansas, according to founder Cyrus Massoumi, people can expect the service to reach 200 cities in states across the country within the next few weeks.

Massoumi, the co-founder and former CEO of ZocDoc, tells USA Today he created the website to help vaccine providers deal with the challenge of vaccinating the entire country. “You have people who want the vaccines for them or their loved ones, and your vaccine providers want to do the right thing, but they need the appropriate tools to deal with the operational challenges of vaccinating the whole country,” he says.

According to the website, based on eligibility, people will get notified of a vaccine that will go unused and will have 15 minutes to confirm they can make it to the vaccination site. Then, they have roughly two hours to make it there, the site says.

“The system is designed to make sure that no dose gets wasted,” Massoumi says.

For local information on where or how to get the COVID-19 vaccine in South Florida, visit our guide here.


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