EDMONTON -- A dedicated group is helping people navigate the sometimes confusing process of getting a COVID-19 vaccine in Alberta.
Sarah Mackey, who goes by Vaccine Clippy online, has been spending her free time helping Albertans make the appointment.
“It all started back when they opened up booking for people 75 and up in the community. My dad was eligible in that group, so my sister and I set up on the first day it was available… It took us about two hours,” she recalled.
“After that long process with my dad, I called my mom and said, ‘Go find all your friends who don’t have tech-savvy children, send them to me, I can help.’”
Her first day, Mackey helped 17 people book their appointments. Since then, she's lost count.
She and a partner, Janaya Matheson, call themselves vaccine hunters. They sift through websites and phone numbers to find open appointments struggling on their own, despite jobs and kids and families of their own.
"Anytime I see anyone talking about needing to book a vaccine, I barge in like Clippy in Microsoft Word. Like, 'You look like you're trying to book a COVID vaccine. Can I help?'" Mackey said.
Thanks to Vaccine Clippy, Dorothy Kelker received her first shot in early April.
"I tried to make my own appointment and it fell through, at which point I turned to Sarah and said help," Kelker told CTV News Edmonton.
"She got back to me right away and walked me through the process."
'THE SYSTEM IS NOT SET UP FOR PEOPLE TO SUCCEED'
Mackey envisions herself the local vaccine appointment hook up.
"I started to feel like I’m standing in a trench coat in a parking lot being like, 'Hey you wanna get a vaccine?' Cause people would send me their tips, and I was like, 'Ooh, I got a hot tip on a Pfizer vaccine on the north side.'"
But as eager as is she is to help, Mackey believes her efforts shouldn't be necessary. The mom of two thinks Alberta Health Services could have started collecting information from Albertans last summer.
"Everybody could've been sorted into their phases before we even started getting vaccine," she suggested.
The clinics could be more user friendly, too, she noted. At her father's appointment, Mackey found the clinic was crowded with people unsure of what to do or where to wait. She said the situation called for “a bossy person with a loud voice.”
“I stayed for about two hours after his appointment… just being loud, walking up the line, telling people if it was more than 10 minutes before your appointment and you came in a car, wait in your car,” Mackey said.
“The system is not set up for people to succeed with this, is what’s so frustrating.”
Alberta isn't unique in that sense, it seems. Similar services have been offered by volunteers across Canada
- READ MORE: British Columbians turn to social media to find remaining AstraZeneca vaccine doses
- READ MORE: Toronto partnering with Vaccine Hunters Canada to connect residents with COVID-19 shots
Mackey just wants everyone who wants a vaccine to be able to get one.
“What are people without internet access… without English language-speaking skills… without familiarity with the health care system going to do?” she asked.
“It’s not rocket science, what I’m doing, it just takes someone with perseverance, very bossy and just a knack for navigating the internet.”
But to those she has helped, Mackey's work is very important.
"It's fantastic," Kelker commented. "She's obviously a very caring person."
Mackey and Matheson, who runs the VaxHunterAB account, can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, or by email.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
