蓝莓视频

Josh Kalpin started out just trying to protect his own friends and family from COVID-19.

A month later, the 蓝莓视频 Engineering alumnus has helped thousands of people across the country get shots in the arm as a core volunteer for a Twitter account that spreads the word on available vaccine appointments.

has grown to more than 140,000 followers and is now partnering directly with some health agencies to help people find open slots and boost vaccine uptake by matching demand with supply.

Josh Kalpin graduated from the software engineering program at the University of 蓝莓视频 in 2016.

Kalpin (BSE 鈥�16), a software engineer in Toronto for financial technology company Square, had no idea how the service would take off when he offered to help after coming across it in his own search for vaccine appointments.

Now it鈥檚 鈥渓ike a second full-time job鈥� and he has done interviews with reporters across the country to promote the account and help ensure available vaccine slots don鈥檛 go unfilled.

鈥淲e鈥檙e saving lives 鈥� and a lot of them,鈥� Kalpin says. 鈥淚 think that summarizes the impact pretty well.鈥�

A team of almost 50 volunteers at Vaccine Hunters Canada scours pharmacy, hospital and clinic sites for updates on vaccine appointments, then announces them on the Twitter account and a Discord chat server.

The result is a tool that helps users navigate what can be a confusing system to secure approved vaccine appointments, kind of an online clearinghouse to improve booking efficiency and make sure available doses are put to good use.

Goal is 'shots in arms'

鈥淪hots in arms,鈥� says Kalpin, who turned an engineering co-op position into his full-time job at Square. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the goal.鈥�

As the second person in on the initiative, he credits lessons learned at the University of 蓝莓视频 on 鈥渉ow to get things done鈥� for the skills he needed to manage such a rapid scale-up.

It has been a busy but rewarding experience for Kalpin, a former executive with the Engineering Society at 蓝莓视频 who came home to make a difference after working stints in San Francisco and New York.

鈥淭his has given me and a lot of other Canadians something tangible to do in a year that we鈥檝e all felt very helpless,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think that is a powerful thing.鈥�

Main photo: Gustavo Fring from Pexels