Announcing Vaccine Radar: A Data-Informed App and Platform Designed To Accelerate Rollout and Promote Health Equity

Now that the COVID-19 vaccination rollout is underway in the U.S., questions are growing over the equitable distribution of those vaccines. Although vaccine enthusiasm is growing among Black and Hispanic populations, data from the CDC showed that distribution and access have not been entirely equitable.

Additional communities face more challenges with access to vaccines — people who are homebound, disabled, without internet, or those with limited time and resources, such as essential workers, just to name a few. CDC data shows that there are racial and ethnic disparities when it comes to who’s most at risk with contracting the Coronavirus and experiencing severe illness, due to many underlying socioeconomic factors.

To help support a more equitable rollout, our Modus Labs team has partnered with clinical informatics leader, Dr. Ali Loveys, to develop a concept for a new tool to measure gaps in vaccine distribution. Vaccine Radar is an app that engages users to understand where vaccines are most needed, and maps demand against existing census data to ensure equitable distribution of the vaccine. We’ve created a quick video where you can learn more about the concept.

One of the most exciting aspects of this tool is the ability for people to “raise their hand” to indicate their desire to get vaccinated — as opposed to the current situation, which favors the tech-savvy’s ability to book via web-based appointment systems. 

This project is an ongoing effort by Modus Labs to use digital innovation to help in this time of crisis. In 2020, we launched the COVID-19 Local Tracker, which leverages the aggregated Johns Hopkins COVID data to provide a localized view of how the disease is progressing in the areas that each user cares about. To get out of the “doom refresh” paradigm, the service sends a simple daily report via email or SMS.
If you’re interested in learning more about the effort to bring Vaccine Radar to life, or would like to learn more about Modus and how we might help you accomplish your goals through digital innovation, we’d love to hear from you at hello@modusagency.com.