WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Getting an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine may seem like a shot in the dark. But there are several things you can do to increase your chances of getting a spot in line.
If you’re in the 1A, 1B or now, over 50 group, you can qualify for a COVID-19 vaccine in Texas. The problem is: where can you find one?
If you are in those eligible groups, or helping someone who is, here are some tips that could help you land a coveted appointment time for a COVID-19 vaccine.
1. Join Facebook groups in your area. Across Central Texas, there are Facebook groups dedicated to the search for vaccine, and full of folks helping navigate the web for others. Use that information! It’s a great way to get info in real time, and to have several sets of eyes on a single problem. Just do a quick search in “groups” to find several options.
2. Set up online accounts ahead of time. With big pharmacy retailers, like Walgreens and CVS, there are loyalty accounts to keep track of shoppers and their medical information. Already having one set up can save you a ton of time. It remembers the pertinent information for you so that you don’t have to add it each time. It’s also a good idea to complete each website’s “COVID vaccine tool” at the same time. That’s just the company’s way of verifying that you are in a group that qualifies for vaccination. Oh, and skip the insurance information. You can always provide that when you arrive for your vaccine.
3. Learn appointment scheduling times. Big retailers typically drop dozens of appointments at once. CVS, for example, typically makes new appointment times available between 5:00am and 6:00am, from my experiences. Walgreens, on the other hand, is known to do so around midnight.
4. Check other crowdsourced information sites. At the start of the vaccine rollout, several individual websites popped up across the state and US, that allowed anyone to input their experiences on getting vaccinated, to try and give a more clear picture of where doses were available. Fortunately, the CDC has taken on much of the work, and consolidated all of the sites into one centralized location on the web: https://vaccinefinder.org. There, you’re able to put your zip code in, and a list populates with locations that may have appointment times available. There are a couple caveats to this, though. One, it is crowdsourced. So the accuracy is not verified. And two, the CDC admits that the data they’re getting from several states, including Texas, is just a rough estimate. But there is a chance, so I always attempted it, too.
5. Instal browser extensions. This one is for the tech-savvy people out there. Installing a web browser extension is an easy way to let the computer work for you. Many of these will allow you to put in a particular search term on a given site, such as “appointments available,” put in the website you’d like it to search, tell it how often you’d like it to refresh, then tell it how to notify you. And that’s it! The extension does the work for you. Some of the more popular options, which are also free, are Page Refresh and Visualping. (Visualping offers both a free and paid option. However, the free version is usually more than enough, since it offers a decent number of page refreshes per day and at least one or two search term options.)
Texas continues to play catch-up in vaccine administration. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas remains in the “limited supply” category for vaccine on hand. Right now, only those in group 1A, such as first responders and healthcare workers, and residents of long-term care facilities, those in 1B, such as anyone 65 and older, or 16 and older with a chronic medical condition, and teachers and childcare workers qualify for the vaccine. On March 15th, those 50 and older join the list for eligibility.
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