Senior Austin Murr created COVIDvaccinate.me, an online website that allows St. Thomas community members and others to locate pharmacies with available COVID-19 vaccines.

The website allows users anywhere in the United States to sign up for daily email notifications about nearby pharmacies with vaccines and view locations with open appointments based on their current location.

“The site is really aimed at helping people who are eligible to get vaccines across the entire country because people are having a hard time finding the vaccines,” Murr said.

Murr’s grandparents had trouble finding their vaccines, despite being eligible for it, which sparked Murr’s interest in creating a site to help others find pharmacies with vaccine appointments available.

“The person who has the Vaccine Spotter website information said that anyone can feel free to use the data that he gathers, and I wanted to make a new tool off that information because I know with my grandparents, it was hard to find them a vaccine,” Murr said.

Despite not having any formal teaching in computer programming and being busy with classes, Murr still wanted to help.

“I kind of put it together between classes over the course of a few days. Ever since I’ve had it up, the number of people using it has made it a lot more difficult to keep it running properly,” Murr said.

Murr has been able to reach out to a few high school friends that help him keep the site running and keep around 1,200 people enlisted in the emailed notifications informed about available vaccines.

With St. Thomas becoming a vaccination site for students and family members, St. Thomas community members are able to find a vaccine even easier.

“I’m glad St. Thomas held a mass vaccination event because I wasn’t sure when or where I would get my vaccination,” Junior Biel Wiel said.

Wiel feels that getting vaccinated is important for the safety of those around him.

“I think St. Thomas community members should get vaccinated to help the global effort in reducing COVID-19 cases so that we can save lives and get back to our normal lives as soon as possible,” Wiel said.

Murr wanted to create this site as a tool to help people keep their community safe.

“I think it’s really not just a personal responsibility but a social responsibility to get vaccinated,” Murr said. “We owe it to the community to protect people who have underlying health conditions, who may not be able to get vaccinated, such as cancer patients or people with autoimmune disorders.”

Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.