⏩ Phone help:
4 UC Berkeley seniors address vaccine inequity in Oakland with a 20th century technology
UC Berkeley students work to get older minority residents vaccinated using an old-fashioned hotline.
“The system is for people who can type fast and get constant access to the internet. ... Lots of our clients come in discouraged.” Erin Kraemer, Shotline cofounder
Four UC Berkeley students hope to connect the Bay Area’s older, minority residents to vaccines through a 20th century invention — a volunteerstaffed hotline.
Their creation is Shotline, a free phone service that “aims to break down technological barriers to COVID19 vaccination,” according to the group’s website. People who call the hotline are greeted by volunteers who take their information, search for vaccine appointments online and book them on their behalf. Currently, Shotline serves residents in Oakland with plans to expand across the Bay Area.
“We wanted to connect people without internet connection or tech savviness,” founder Erin Kraemer told The Chronicle.
She founded Shotline with fellow UC Berkeley seniors Dorsa Moslehi, Taylor Birdsong and Nseke Ngilbus as part of a school fellowship project.
To sign up for a vaccine, California directs residents to the state’s official My Turn website. Shotline’s founders say the state’s online system for entering personal information, checking eligibility and signing up for appointments is partially to blame for lagging inequities.
“The system is for people who can type fast and get constant access to the internet,” Kraemer said. “The sites are incredibly confusing and so frustrating. Many of the sites end up being that you enter all this info about yourself and enter a day and time and then you get a ‘no appointment.’ Lots of our clients come in discouraged.”
California initially ranked among the worst states in terms of getting its poorest and most vulnerable residents vaccinated but rebounded earlier this month, with the
state announcing it had injected 4 million doses into the arms of people in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
But inequities remain, with vaccine access impacted by racial demographics, geographic location and access to technology.
In Alameda County, Latino and Black people make up 33% of the population but only 18.2% of those who have been administered one dose of the vaccine. White residents make up 30.6% of Alameda County and 31.2% of those who have received at least a first dose, according to population and public health data.
Although older people were initially prioritized for appointments, eligibility expanded last week to everyone 16 years of age and older.
Kraemer said Shotline was inspired by an interaction with her 93yearold neighbor, who was having difficulties scheduling a vaccination online.
“I had helped her with computer things before,” Kraemer recalled. “I was on a walk and she was waiting for me on her porch with her old iPhone. She needed help registering for her COVID vaccine — she couldn’t figure it out and had been trying for hours.”
Kraemer said she was able to find her neighbor a vaccination appointment within 15 minutes.
Shotline received more than 50 phone calls within three days of its March 25 launch, said Kraemer and cofounder Moslehi. Most were from
“minority elderly” people, Moslehi said. They counted another 122 unique callers on April 8.
The students estimate that they’ve helped connect 130 people to shots — a number
they hope will increase, as more people find their service and their volunteer ranks grow.
Because the community they serve is less likely to be online, Moslehi said Shotline’s initial marketing strategy was also lowtech.
“Our main thing was flyering,” Moslehi said. “We put flyers in senior homes, around Lake Merritt and in food kitchens. We’re part
nering with Alameda County Meals on Wheels.”
According to state public health data, 57.8% of residents age 65 and older were fully vaccinated as of April 20. Black and Latino residents were still lagging in vaccinations compared to their share of the population. Moslehi contended that larger gaps in access will be closed only by “communitybased initiatives” like theirs.
“There are still 90yearolds who haven’t been vaccinated, but people who live in a bubble of privilege have even 16yearolds getting vaccinated,” Moslehi said. “There’s lots of research, but not enough action.”