Waiting for the vaccine: Web-based calculator puts you in the queue
Wondering when you're likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine? A new online tool developed for Canada's vaccine rollout estimates how long you're likely to wait for the jab.
The Vaccine Queue Calculator for Canada went live Thursday. It takes into account specific federal variables for who gets the vaccine across the country.
Jasmine J. Mah developed the Canadian version of the queue calculator with Steven Wooding. Mah said the calculator is working with limited information, but as more data and more vaccines are approved, the calculator will become more predictable.
“The provinces are still developing their plans, so we couldn't do anything more detailed,” the Toronto native said from Los Angeles. “It will still give a general idea, which is useful.”
The online calculator uses federal information that prioritizes high-risk and vulnerable groups: Stage 1 includes the elderly in long-term care homes, front-line health care workers and Indigenous elders; Stage 2, other health care workers, anyone in homeless shelters and communal living situations, and essential workers. Stage 3 is everyone else.
“The calculator uses the order of these populations to determine your place in the queue,” the Vaccine Queue Calculator says.
Mah crunched the numbers for herself. Like many Canadians, she's in Stage 3 and not likely to get a jab in the upper arm until well into the summer.
“I'm in line behind at least 12,217,781 Canadians who will need a COVID-19 vaccination before me ... only after early July,” she said in an email.
So far, Canada has approved vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
The calculator produces an estimate rather than a prediction of where you're at in the queue.
The Canadian Queue Calculator is part of Omni Calculator, an online website that creates calculations to help people make rational, math-based decisions about a whole range of real-world problems.
Omni says it's now making five million calculations a month.
“Currently, if you want to solve a math problem, you will either use a calculator app or a spreadsheet,” Omni says. “We link the simplicity of the former with the comprehensiveness of the latter — and we aspire to become a go-to tool that solves math problems for everyone on the planet.”
Omni has more than 1,500 free calculators. They include the shower cost calculator that asks for data such as average shower duration as well as water price and water used to determine a total water price. Others are a commuter calculator to determine the cost of driving and a lost socks calculator to help you lower your Sock Loss Index.