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When the vaccine appointments opened in my condition, I knew exactly what to do. After all, I’ve spent the last year hunting down things like Sanrio Animal Crossing cards and Pikachu-themed Happy Meals.
The fact that these two experiences can be compared is baffling, but it is true. The skills I learned during my online efforts have helped me maximize my chances of getting an appointment for a vaccine. First of all, I have compiled a long list of links connecting me to vaccine distribution locations. I turned on notifications for a Twitter account and joined a Facebook group that buzzed at me whenever new dating spots opened up. And, to top it off, I made sure my PC was wired, so I had the fastest internet speed possible. Some of these things might never have occurred to me without my hobbies, where subcultures have developed complex strategies to secure things that sell out in the blink of an eye.
It is a similarity that has been noted repeatedly by my peers and friends on social networks.
“Why get a PlayStation 5 and register for the vaccine the same level of difficulty,” jokes a post on Twitter.
Davie Young Twitch Banner told Polygon via Twitter direct messages that getting the PS5 and the vaccine “felt like both a game and an existential crisis.” He spent hours refreshing a page just to do the reCAPTCHA puzzles over and over again to get the first dose.
“For the PS5, the frustration was just as long as it took. I would be ready to exact by the time the supplies dropped, but within 20 seconds everything would be exhausted, ”he told Polygon.
When he got the appointment for the vaccine he said he was in awe and thought to himself, “I can’t believe this is how the process works. It’s like trying to get myself an exclusive pair of sneakers, but I’m actually trying to save my life and the life of my family.
According to various studies, between 24 and 163 million Americans do not have sufficient broadband access. Health experts estimate that up to 90% of the population will need to acquire resistance to COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity, which translates to approximately 297 million Americans. But beyond broadband access, some people lack the time and technological knowledge to undertake this convoluted process. There is a gap between who can and cannot get vaccinated.
Take, for example, the gap in vaccination rates between whites and communities of color, which are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Black and Latin American communities are three times more likely to be infected and almost twice as likely to die from the virus than whites.
A recent New York Times report said that the vaccination rate for black populations in the United States is half that of whites, and the gap for Latin Americans is even greater. Within these groups, local community leaders cite lack of access to email and computers as a barrier to immunizing older people, who are the highest-risk population.
It’s not just about having the time and access – you also need to know how to handle technical issues. At one point during my quest for the vaccine, it seemed like all the newly opened spots had been booked instantly, within seconds. But I remembered that sometimes when many people try to load the same thing, the system might load incorrectly. At least, that’s what I experienced while trying to buy Sanrio Cards from Target last weekend when the page refresh helped me secure my bounty. I tried rechecking the vaccine website and lo and behold, after loading a few times the spots magically appeared.
I finally got a date, but the fact that it took so many plans and security features says a lot about the system itself.
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