Software engineer makes good bot
Twitter account posts when vax slots open
As many Massachusetts residents struggle with finding available coronavirus vaccine appointments, a new social media account is helping those eligible for the vax learn when new precious slots go live.
A software engineer at a Boston biotech company has set up a Twitter account that helps Bay Staters find open vax appointments. The bot account posts about open vaccine appointments as they become available.
The @vaccinetime account tweets out the specific vax site and the number of new available slots when they are uploaded to the vax website. The account includes the link to sign up for an appointment.
For instance, when thousands of new appointments became available at Gillette Stadium last week, the Twitter account posted, “2459 appointments available at Gillette Stadium on 02/22/2021. Check eligibility and sign up at (the link).”
Dan Cahoon, who set up the bot and Twitter account, told the Herald on Tuesday that the public response has been overwhelming since his account went live.
“What’s definitely been particularly amazing for me is to see when it posts and then people respond saying they were able to get a vaccine because the bot posted,” said Cahoon, 31. “That in particular has been awesome to see.”
Cahoon, a senior software engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks in Boston, said he came up with the idea when co-workers were struggling with the state website to sign up for appointments.
His colleagues were spending hours refreshing the state’s website pages and also trying pharmacy websites, but they were not able to secure a slot.
“Not everyone has the ability to sit there on hours on end, refreshing the page,” said Cahoon, a Somerville resident. “So I’m hoping that it helps, especially those people, to have this other avenue to try to get their vaccinations.”
The Twitter account already has more than 10,000 followers as of Tuesday afternoon.
For those hoping to score an appointment by following this account, one key tip is to enable Twitter notifications so users are immediately alerted about the new vax slots.
New appointments go fast. Last week, when more priority groups became eligible for the vaccine, new slots were quickly filled within minutes. The site crashed as 1 million more people became eligible for the vax.