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What WA can learn from Native communities' vaccination plan

Manola Secaira

March 22, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Washington state’s Native communities have led the way in distributing the Covid vaccine to their communities' most vulnerable and are now helping to vaccinate those who are outside of their tribes. Their success is due to a combination of factors, including direct outreach to those who needed the vaccine the most. According to the Seattle Indian Health Board CEO, “That’s the difference between state, county systems and other public health systems They’re not serving people [directly] every day.”

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'Vaccine Altruists' Are Finding Appointments for Strangers

Anna Almendrala

March 10, 2021 |

Kaiser Health News |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Grassroots volunteer groups are helping people across the country make COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Get Out the Shot: Los Angeles has 100 vetted volunteers who have booked 300 appointments through the group’s system and thousands more on their own. Residents leave a message or fill out a Google form with their information and a volunteer picks up their case, books an appointment, and calls them to confirm. These volunteer organizations fill important assistance gaps in local government services that are stretched thin. Some groups focus on getting appointments for people from underserved communities.

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The Deal That's Saving San Francisco's Restaurants

Nicole Gluckstern

March 05, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

To save dozens of restaurants in San Francisco during the coronavirus lockdowns, a restaurant owner launched an organization that "provides monthly contracts to its restaurant partners to cook meals for underserved populations." The organization, which has 160 restaurant partners so far, helps fill the gaps left by the government-funded Paycheck Protection Program.

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For those frustrated with vaccine system, a crew of volunteers is ready to help

Felice J. Freyer

March 02, 2021 |

The Boston Globe |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

A community effort is underway in Massachusetts to help people secure Covid-19 vaccination appointments, despite a confusing government roll-out system. The Massachusetts COVID Vaccination Help volunteer group is composed of volunteers from across the state, who are using their free time to help individuals schedule appointments. Although there are concerns about privacy, users thus far have commended the group's persistence and success in booking appointments.

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‘There's so much gratitude': engineer who created viral vaccine site for $50

Miranda Bryant

March 01, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

Frustrated with the Covid-19 vaccination system in New York, a local software engineer created a "much-needed vaccination appointment-finding bot" that shares available times and locations on a website and Twitter. Although the website was not built "in the way that modern websites are supposed to be built," it has still been extremely popular and users have reported successfully booking appointments because of it.

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Baking Homemade Bread Becomes a Public Good

Lynn Freehill-Maye

February 25, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kirkland, Washington

A community effort to help provide food to those who are food insecure during the pandemic has brought together local bakers to bake bread for food banks. The initiative, known as Community Loaves, has amassed 700 volunteers and donated 15,000 loaves to 11 food pantries across the Seattle area, and is now also gaining momentum in Oregon.

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An Evanston Teen Saw How Hard It Was For The Elderly To Find Vaccines, So He Built A Website To Help

Edie Rubinowitz

February 21, 2021 |

WBEZ |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Evanston, Illinois

When a teenager in Evanston, Illinois realized that senior citizens were facing difficulties securing Covid vaccination appointments due to technology barriers, he created a website to help eliminate some of the technological barriers. The site aggregates available appointments in the area so seniors don't have to go searching for them, which has consequently helped reduce stress for users of the website.

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How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system

Danny Westneat

February 17, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Retired software engineers in Washington have joined together and created a website that aggregates all available COVID vaccine appointments by using "screen scrapers." Although the site doesn't allow the visitor to book an appointment, it has routinely averaged "10,000 visits a day from anxious shot hunters."

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PPE for the People

Kathrin Yaromich

February 10, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Belarus

During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, volunteers across Belarus worked together to collect and deliver personal protective equipment to frontline workers, despite the Belarusian government denying the spread of the coronavirus. Using social media to organize, the volunteers "served as a kind of SWAT team able to bypass the bureaucracy to obtain the necessary equipment."

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N.Y.'s Vaccine Websites Weren't Working. He Built a New One for $50.

Sharon Otterman

February 09, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Online volunteer assistance efforts in New York have played a crucial role in the dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine, while city and state appointment systems have caused confusion or created barriers for many. Although these efforts can't address all barriers, such as lack of computer access or literacy, they have been used by thousands of people each day to find available appointment times.

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