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Brock Lumbard is making it easier to find where you can get your COVID-19 vaccinations across Saskatchewan.
The 22-year-old Regina-born software engineer studied at Western University before returning home recently. On Tuesday, the graduate of Luther College High School launched a text line through just one tweet that garnered a lot of attention.
If you're in #Saskatchewan and looking for a vaccine soon, text 1-306-517-7062 with your postal code. I built a tool that will respond with nearby clinics, drive-thru centres and pharmacies that have availability. #GetVaccinatedSK #StickItToCOVID pic.twitter.com/SYTlqnBySx
— Brock Lumbard (@b_lumbard) May 4, 2021
Lumbard set up a system that allows people looking for vaccinations to text 306-517-7062 with their postal codes. The system then matches up the nearest vaccination sites, along with current wait times.
The system is built off of two different parts. The first is data collection. A database combed through the provincial vaccination data, building the database.
The second part of the system is a server that accepts text messages, then looks through the database to get the information into the users’ hands.
The whole project seems complicated, but Lumbard didn’t take long in developing it.
“It probably took 10 or 12 hours — something like that — in total,” he said.
“It’s been a really positive response. It was really fun. It was great to see the tweet that I made, it blew up pretty quickly … (with) a lot of really supportive comments. It’s fun to see the Saskatchewan people rally behind something fun, and positive and helpful like this, especially during this rough time.”
Lumbard said Premier Scott Moe called him to congratulate him and thank him, and offered to connect him with the right people to offset the costs of the project.
Since its launch at midday Tuesday, it has been used quite a bit.
“We’re just about 9,000 now. At this rate, we should hit 10,000 probably within an hour or two. It’s going pretty quickly,” he said.
“Technology like this can be really helpful and do really good things for this world … I hope that as much as this project helps people gets vaccinated, it also can inspire people (and show) that technology can do good things.”