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A tech-savvy Chicago high school student – who discovered he had a knack for getting vaccinated – is now helping hundreds of seniors do just that.
Benjamin Kagan is a freshman at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. When not in school or doing his homework, he spends most of his time “looking for appointments” for more than 550 people in the Illinois area. alongside a list of volunteers known as the Chicago Vaccine Angels.
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More than 74% of Illinois residents who have asked for help are over 65, Kagan told Fox News.
“A lot of these people [seniors] have a lot of trouble with the technological side of it all, and they really need help, ”he said.
So he designed a centralized system to help track and schedule appointments for people in need.
(Benjamin Kagan in Chicago, Illinois (Photo credit: Irv Kagan))
It all started during winter vacation when he helped his grandparents navigate the Florida system.
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“The Florida system was a big mess,” he said. “It was this crazy thing and there were thousands and thousands of people vying for the slots.”
With four computer screens open, Kagan was up to the challenge. He remembers competing with about 66,000 other people.
After successfully securing his grandparents their first dose, he began helping his parents who own a vital business in Illinois.
After finding out about the Facebook group, Chicago Vaccine Hunters, he began offering advice on how and where to look for vaccine appointments in the area.
And he wasn’t the only one. In fact, he was one of the many other users who were constantly offering advice on the page.
Shortly after starting posting tips, Kagan said his own Facebook inbox was quickly inundated with messages.
“It eventually turned into people sending me private messages on Facebook saying, ‘You know, Benjamin, can you help me? … If I give you my information, can you use it? for me? ‘”he said.
The messages were too much for him to follow, so he formed the Chicago Vaccine Angels.
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In order to create a centralized system, Kagan created a Google Form that will feed a person’s name and other personal information into a spreadsheet.
“Now we’re all looking for dates,” he said.
In just over a week since the Google Form went live, Kagan and his group of volunteers have already put 294 people in touch with dates. However, the demands continue to accumulate.
To date, the spreadsheet has well over 554 responses.
Keeping track of these appointments is not an easy task, he said. While on winter vacation, he remembered spending hours every day dealing with all the requests.
And he doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.
“My plan is to keep doing this until someone can call a Walgreens and say, ‘OK, I’m coming in five minutes… get it ready for me,’” he said.
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