News, Press, and Successes

Press

  • "Meet the 3 outstanding tech efforts being honored with GeekWire’s Geeks Give Back Award"
    - Geekwire

  • VACCS Final report: Blueprint for Public-Private Partnering
    - Press release - Report

  • "Unheard Concerns: Thousands blame COVID-19 vaccine for hearing problems"
    - ABC15 (youtube)

  • "Вакцины против COVID-19: этим летом доступнее, чем когда-либо"
    - Slavic Family

  • "Mentorship in Action Featuring 2021 CSSE Grads Angela Ferro Capera and Ryan Russell"
    - UW Bothell (video)

  • "Website that helped millions get vaccine appointments to shut down"
    - Q13 Fox

  • "The Hunt for Vaccine Appointments: Tips for finding an appointment with CovidWA.com"
    - KOMO News (video)

  • "Vaccines opening to general public"
    - KIRO7 (video)

  • "Software developers, volunteers helping Washingtonians track down vaccine appointments"
    - KOMO News

  • "Need a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in Washington? Try this"
    - Seattle Post Intelligencer

  • "With COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expanding, finding an appointment remains a challenge"
    - KING5 (video)

  • "Washington vaccine-finder website will text you when there’s a shot available nearby"
    - KING5

  • "Online COVID-19 vaccine locators prepare for influx in users once eligibility opens to all adults April 15"
    - Q13 Fox

  • "How to find a COVID-19 vaccine shot: Volunteer-run site flags open spots in Washington state"
    - Geekwire

  • "Washingtonians will need to ‘pack their patience’ when COVID vaccine appointments open to all 16 and older"
    - Seattle Times

  • "COVID herd immunity? Parts of Washington state appear in no mood to join this herd"
    - Seattle Times

  • "Rogue 'vaccine hunters' are angling for appointments and uncovering loopholes in America's Wild West shot rollout"
    - Insider.com

  • "Looking for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in Washington? This website could help"
    - Seattle Post Intelligencer

  • "Volunteers build 'easier, less frustrating' COVID-19 vaccine website for Washington"
    "As soon as DOH learned of their efforts, we reached out and we are now actively collaborating with them [us!]."

    - KING5

  • "Online booking complicates COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Washington state"

    - CBC News: The National (video)

  • "One website to aggregate them all: COVIDWA makes finding available vaccines that much easier"
    - KUOW (podcast)

  • "Interview with Darren Lim, one of our founders"
    - KIRO7 (video)

  • "Volunteers create website that makes it easier to find vaccine appointments"
    - Q13 News

  • "How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system"
    - Seattle Times

  • "Eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine? Seattle techies help create site that shows open appointments"
    "DOH is familiar with these efforts and we think it is a good service to Washingtonians,” said department spokesperson Shelby Anderson"
    - Geekwire

  • "How to score a COVID-19 vaccine appointment"
    - The Verge

  • "In Darwinian vaccine system, helpers step to the front"
    - KUOW

  • "CSSE major helps with vaccine-finding website"
    - UW Bothell News

  • "Volunteers Build COVID-19 Vaccine Finder Website"
    - Patch.com

  • CovidWA.com launch announcement (pdf)

WA COVID Vaccine Finder (CovidWA.com) Updates

  • February 26, 2021 - We've provided appointment availability to 220,000 users since we launched!
  • February 18, 2021 - Wow! Word is spreading! We're providing availability information to 6,000 users per hour and >135,000 people in the last week!
  • February 16, 2021 - We're now providing appointment availability to up to 1,000 users per hour!
  • CovidWA.com Project Summary (pdf)

Community Notes

Successes

Covidwa.com! I read about it in Danny Westneat’s Seattle Times column on 2/17 and that’s how I finally found appointments for husband’s and my first shot. Thank you. So. Very. Much.
Thank you all so much for working on this important project! I hear horror stories from my older friends about navigating the vaccine process. What a service to Washington.
Please pass on my thanks to all of the volunteers. I was able to book a vaccine appointment for my husband thanks to the site you put together. It still took persistence, but was SUCH an improvement over constantly rechecking each individual site. I’ve been so moved by folks stepping up to volunteer like this. Your work on this is noticed and much appreciated.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for putting your website together for the community. I have been using and sharing it over the past two weeks, after I heard that my 84 year old neighbor was not able to find an appointment for the vaccine. Today, after checking your site, I was able to let him, and a friend at work, who has an elderly father in need of the vaccine, know about new vaccine availability and they were both vaccinated today! I truly appreciate how you have helped, and I am sure many others have benefited as well.
Using your site, I was able to make an appointment for my Grandmother for Friday morning! She’s going to get her first shot tomorrow! Thank you guys so, so much. You have made an easy-to-use, in-time tool that truly could be helping save lives, as well as saving me from migraines. You guys are super-menches.
Wonderful work! Thank you for your efforts! Finally a site that is easy to navigate! I am 75 and have had a great experience using your website and getting my appointment booked at Island Drug in Oak Harbor. They are very organized and have even sent me an email confirming my second dose appointment.
I am part of a group of retired educators who have created a group which works to get senior citizens appointments for their vaccines. The oldest person we've booked is 102. We've scheduled about 330 people so far in the past two weeks, and we use your site more than any other. I want to thank you for your innovation, cleverness, commitment, and loving hearts. We are so appreciative. You get a window seat in heaven! Most sincerely, (retired high school principal)
Amazing work! Keep getting those shots in those arms and hugs will be back before we know it.
We found and received our shots after a multitude of false starts and initially read about your site on Reddit, then in the Times. After a nurse friend found some vaccinations in Seattle, we happily drove over from Kirkland to get them. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for bringing some smarts and wisdom to this process.
It seems like a miracle, but after weeks of frustration, I used [the] website to book a Covid vaccine appointment today!!
I've been on your website!! It's awesome and we booked our appointments - thank you and the other brilliant volunteers for all magic being done.
One senior shared “Thank you for sharing the website information. It was so each to make an appt. – I almost didn’t trust it
Just got an appt for next Wed - thanks to (the) COVIDWA.COM site. Thank you soooo much.
I have been trying to get an appointment for my Mom for 2 weeks – I haven’t seen her for months. In 15 minutes I had an appointment for her this month! Thank you for helping me take care of my Mom.
A friend of mine has been trying for weeks for her mom, and scored today via the site. She sends her gratitude.
Thanks for the website. I heard it announced on KUOW and gave it a spin. Zip availability. I tried it a few hours later and scored at Costco.
Used your site to schedule my first shot. VERY grateful. Let’s see if it works out, but incredibly happy to have used your super user-friendly site to get it done! Thank you so much!
My girlfriend and I were searching for appointments for her immunocompromised mother, wishing there was a site exactly like this. The next day I heard about this site and within an hour we scheduled her for her dose, a month before we expected to find any openings.