Marylander creates web browser extensions to help find COVID-19 vaccine appointments

MARYLAND – A couple of weeks ago, 47ABC introduced you to the creator of the Maryland Vaccine Hunters Facebook group. The group has helped countless Marylanders find and set up COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Now another member of the group from Ellicott City is stepping up to make that process even easier. “I got tired of clicking the button to check the calendar back and forth. I have a software engineering background, so I wrote some JavaScript to try to click the button for me, and it kind of snowballed from there,” said Whitney O’Meara.

O’Meara created an extension called TurboVax for the Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers. The extensions automatically alert people when appointments are available at one of the state’s mass vaccination sites. “It’s not very easy for my mother in law and father in law to take some code and put it in the browser. But if it’s an extension that can be downloaded in the store, it should be pretty easy for anyone to use,” said O’Meara.

O’Meara says he’s been getting a good response from people using it. He says he’s even inviting other programmers to contribute. “I’ve seen a lot of comments on the Facebook thread from people who were able to use it to get appointments for their older parents or older relatives, which makes me really happy,” said O’Meara. “I open sourced it, actually, to ask other people, ‘If you’re a programmer come and make your contribution, and we’ll make it something that’s better than what it is.'”

The extensions are available to download for free. You can find those downloads on the Google Chrome Store and the Firefox Browser Add-Ons Store. O’Meara says he hopes to eventually extend the capabilities of the extensions, like having it look for appointments at CVS or Walgreens.