KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A University of Kansas graduate student and a software engineer have teamed up to aggregate COVID-19 vaccine information for Kansas City metro residents.
"This isn't about me and what I did," Anureet Hans, a KU grad student, said. "It's more so about what this could do to help others out."
Hans noticed that there wasn't one place that compiled the correct websites for residents to registered to receive a vaccine. So, he created one.
"The main part of it is that they get all those pharmacies listed on one page and get those linked," Hans said. "Some are easier to navigate than others. It lists out all pharmacies in the KC metro area that carry the vaccine."
The idea sparked from seeing his parents get the vaccine.
"The biggest thing I noticed is that people don't know where to get it from," Hans said.
Software engineer Peter Carnesciali also saw a need and acted on it.
"I built a program that checks different pharmacies around the area who allow appointments for COVID-19 vaccines," Carnesciali said, " and it checks periodically to see if they have any appointments."
That software tweets out any available slots at Hy-Vee through an automated Twitter account.
KS: Vaccine appointments available at Hy-Vee Olathe #1 on Mar 7. Sign up here, zip code 66062https://t.co/EHPWpMnUcj
— KC Vaccine Watch (@kcvaccinewatch) March 3, 2021
Carnesciali said he hopes to add other pharmacies to the software soon.
"It will reply with a tweet when all of the appointments are gone," Carnesciali said.
Both men said they created the website and social media account to pay it forward and help a nation in crisis.
"If people can benefit from it, then that's great," Carnesciali said.
