NEW YORK (WBEN) — A New York City man has developed a new website to help people get appointments for their COVID-19 vaccine.
Greg Billig says he came up with the idea for the new website after his father called him, extremely upset that he could not get an appointment for a vaccine.
"So, I told him like, 'Alright, calm down. Let me see if I can get it for you.' And I took a crack at it, and very quickly I realized that it was really difficult," he told our sister New York City station WCBS 880.
Billig, a Manhattan resident who works for a software company, created a website, then, so people can be alerted when appointments in their area are available.
To sign up for alerts, all a person has to do is select the vaccination site most convenient for them, enter their cell phone number and when an appointment is available at the location, they will be sent a text message.
From there, they can use the New York State vaccine scheduling site to make their appointment.
Billig says the site grew in popularity after his friends posted the link on social media. Now, he says around 4,000 people sign up for alerts every single day – and they are all grateful for the help.
"Each and every day, I wake up to these really awesome messages from people telling me how my bot helped them get apartments and they're so grateful," he said.
The website creator says that the website is even being used by groups working on vaccination outreach efforts.
"I actually found out that my bot was actually getting used by volunteer groups, large volunteer groups that were basically making contact with seniors in the community, creating a list of people to get vaccinated," he explains.
The website is monitored by a bot and Billig notes, "phone numbers collected will NOT be sold or used for any other purpose than to notify you of vaccination appointment availability."
