Tactical Implementation Guide

U.S. Digital Response (USDR) is helping state and local agencies create vaccine appointment finders (VAFs) for those eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccines.

As eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations opens at a rapid pace, governments across the U.S. face the immense challenge of getting shots into people’s arms quickly and equitably. Our state government partners are hearing the same question over and over from their constituents: Why is it so hard to find and secure a vaccination appointment?

To drive both vaccination speed and equity throughout your communities, vaccine appointment finder tools are essential.

U.S. Digital Response (USDR) has collaborated with organizations at the federal, state, and local levels to help develop vaccine appointment finders (VAFs) that aggregate and streamline disparate appointment systems to help people access vaccines. We specifically highlight examples from our appointment finder collaboration with the State of New Jersey. Our team can immediately help you implement a vaccine appointment finder that works for your unique jurisdiction, residents, and providers.

Why did we create this guide?

The purpose of this implementation guide is to highlight technology–but also cultural, political, and legal–considerations and recommendations that will set your organization’s appointment finder for success. USDR is broadly publishing our cumulative resources and pro-bono services to support your ultimate goal: getting shots into your residents’ arms.

What’s in this guide?

• Background: For many residents, finding an appointment means navigating many dozens of websites and multiple rounds of clicks and calls, so USDR recommends following a user-centered approach to solve your residents' core pain points.

• Upfront program management: Discusses the significant cultural, political, legal, equity, and relationship-building efforts to work with the large number of vaccine providers in any jurisdiction.

• Appointment building blocks: Identifies various building blocks you can use to prioritize provider types and data extraction methods for your own VAF.

• Success story: State of New Jersey: USDR partnered with New Jersey for their appointment finder, used first by their internal call center, and now directly by their residents to find and book vaccine appointments.

• Technical architecture: Provides details about the components and best practices for VAF technical architecture.

• What's next: USDR’s team of experts is working on new appointment finder solutions and are here to explore the best solutions for your community. Feel free to reach out to us.