Facebook groups become a source for finding coronavirus vaccine availability

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

People have started Facebook pages throughout Missouri to hunt down available coronavirus vaccine doses.

Critics have attacked Missouri's vaccine rollout as being inefficient and inequitable, leading some to look for different ways to get vaccine access. As of Wednesday, 9% of the state's population have received both doses of the vaccine and 17.2% have received the initial dose.

Allison Cargnel, a pathologist at Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City, is a part of several Facebook pages that try to give people more information about where they can receive their doses.

"I try to use my Facebook as a way to contact people that might know somebody that is in the eligible phases," Cargnel said.

Because Cargnel is a part of the medical staff, she has access to vaccine rollout information for all eight hospitals in the Kansas City area. She uses that information to help people on the Facebook pages.

Amy Simons, an expert in social media at the Missouri School of Journalism, said that these pages are a way to unite communities where people can rely on others to help them get more information.

Cargnel says the problem that she has found when trying to vaccinate Phase 1B Tier 2 in the state's plan was the lack of technology and access to email in that age group. That tier includes people 65 and older.

Simons said this is where friends and neighbors can come into the equation. People that are more technically savvy can get vaccine information for others that may not have that access.

Bobbi Hale, an eligible member under Phase 1B Tier 3, said she initially joined the pages in January in search for vaccines for her parents who fell into the Tier 2 category.

Hale said her parents do not have access to internet and live in a small town. She said the only way for them to get signed up to receive the vaccine was through their local health department.

Simons said that a huge part of the vaccine distribution is relying on internet communications. "For people who don't have that access, knowing that people in surrounding areas are looking our for them and getting in touch with them by phone to be able to get them signed up is huge," said Simons.

"I had to take a very proactive role to look for vaccines for them," Hale said. She signed her parents up on multiple sites, followed county health departments and medical systems on Facebook, and joined the other Facebook pages with groups of people constantly posting vaccine availability.

While Facebook stalking county health departments, Hale was able to see an event early on in St. Robert, Missouri and secure her parents a spot for vaccinations.

After that, Hale began to reach out to friends and family in the St. Louis area that were eligible and struggling to find vaccination doses. Through the Facebook pages, she found several doses for people she knew across the state.

Hale is in a statewide vaccine finder group that has more than 30,000 members. Members of the group are not only sharing events for the St. Louis and Kansas City regions, but in small towns throughout the state.

Hale becomes eligible to receive her vaccination on Monday as a part of Tier 3. The Facebook groups helped her to secure an appointment that same day.

Cargnel said the Facebook groups are another way for vaccinators to avoid wasted doses. She said she has seen firsthand people posting numbers of available doses on the pages and the appointments filling up within minutes.

The state hosts vaccination events in regions weekly, but there is not an online site where people can see all of the vaccinations in an area.

Simons said there are so many different places that people are being asked to sign up for vaccination information. She said social media has made an easy place for people to communicate about all of these different places in one spot.

A map of local pharmacies that are giving out doses is also available, but without visiting their websites and calling each pharmacy, it is hard to know the number of doses they have available.