Find your Vaccine Hunting Group
<aside> 💡 In the absence of an official centralized standby/waitlist system, we are crowdsourcing intel about COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites that have unclaimed, soon-to-expire doses. Check out VaccineHunter.org to find an online community for your region! 👆🏻
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Due to the requirements around storage & usage of the COVID-19 vaccines once vials are unfrozen or opened, there are occasions when "spare doses" may go unused & should be made available to anyone (including young people & others not in the current prioritization group). For example, a vial of the Moderna vaccine expires ~6 hours after first puncture. What happens in the 4th or 5th hour when not enough older folks have shown up to get their jab and that unfrozen tray or opened vial still has precious doses left about to expire? Distribution sites should start letting anyone they can find through the door! But how do they find people?
All over the world, stories have spread across social media about health workers flagging down passersby right off the street at the end of each day just to use up these "surplus" shots. In some places like Israel, “vaccine hunter” Facebook and Telegram groups have popped up to hunt down centers offering these “leftover,” soon-to-expire vaccines and get them into arms. In the absence of an official centralized standby waitlist system, I built a similar system to connect distribution sites that have expiring doses with motivated, mobile, younger people who are ready to rush over to get their shot.
Vaccine hunters chasing down leftover Covid shots
Perspective | Healthy young people are grabbing vaccine doses. It looks unfair. It's fine.
Race to get coronavirus vaccine going digital with 'vaccine hunters'
"Vaccine hunters" turn to social media in the scramble to find shots
Seeking vaccine, older Louisianans hit the road as younger hunt 'leftovers'
These 'vaccine hunters' are getting their shots ahead of schedule by gaming the system
Headline: "They're skipping the line!!!" Text: "Experts and citizens agree that wasting vaccines makes no sense, and there's no established system to ensure that doesn't happen" 🤦♀️
The Wild Ways Young People Justify Jumping Ahead of Granny for the Vaccine
'Vaccine Hunters' Are Getting Vaccinated Ahead of Their Scheduled Time
Vaccine 'Hunters' Travel To Mississippi, Other States For A Potential Dose
Vaccine Hunters Are Crossing State Lines for a COVID-19 Shot