Pa. COVID-19 vaccine finder Facebook page helps people get appointments
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Pa. COVID Vaccine Matchmaker Facebook page is the brainchild of Dr. Christine Meyer of Chester County.
She says it was very early in the vaccine roll-out when she quickly realized that the process of getting a shot was much tougher than she expected.
"Our Facebook group has basically emerged as a place where all that information is collated and easy to find and, most importantly, kept up-to-date literally minute-to-minute. The information there is reliable," she said.
The page has been up for two months and it's become very popular.
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"We already have like 64,000 people in the group. We've made over 14,000 vaccine appointments. I, honestly, never in a million years saw that coming," Meyer said.
People who access the page are basically broken down into two groups: those seeking an appointment, and those who help the seekers get their shot.
Those so-called "finders" are led by Lauren Marohn, who is also the page manager.
She says that while the path to a vaccine varies from person to person, most should start at the same location.
"Make sure that you're signed up on your patient portals through any healthcare system. If you've been in the Main Line Health System if you're in Chester County Penn's System, make sure you're signed up for those," she says.
From there, Marohn says to keep an eye on her page and be patient.
Meyer said that she is dedicated to keeping the Pa. COVID Matchmaker Page in place, and continually updated, simply because of what's at stake.
"When you think about the motivation for this vaccine, people are trying to save their lives, or save their parent's lives. It's just the fact that they've had to go to these lengths is just astonishing to me," she says.
