Vaccine Estimator

Give people an estimate on when the vaccine will be available to them based on real-time data.

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Inspiration

Given the current situation with national vaccine distribution, many people are wondering when they will receive the COVID - 19 vaccine. However, information online can sometimes be misleading and confusing, that’s why we created a Vaccine Estimator using sources directly from the CDC to help the public fairly access their approximate date to receive the vaccine.

What it does

Vaccine Estimator estimates the amount of time it takes the COVID-19 vaccine to reach someone according to the phase they correspond to. This is calculated through the user’s state of residence, age, work, living situation, and health conditions. The time is also calculated through the use of real-time CDC data to give the best estimate with the most up to date vaccination rates.

There are three ways of interacting with Vaccine Estimator: text, website, and voice assistant. For people who do not have access to the internet or a computer but have access to a cell phone, our texting channel is perfect for them. Users can directly text our number to find out about their estimated date to receive the vaccine. For people who have access to smart voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant, they can directly ask for the vaccine information through voice control. Lastly, our vaccine estimator is also available as a website.

How we built it

Vaccine Estimator was built on a number of different technologies. The interfaces used were Voiceflow and Twilio. The covid vaccine model is currently being hosted in Google Cloud. The covid vaccine model was built using NodeJS and the data is pulled daily from the CDC. The Twilio conversation/server was built using Python Flask.

CDC data: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations Phase information: https://covid19vaccineallocation.org/ and https://dig.abclocal.go.com/ccg/interactives/vaccine-calculator/

Challenges we ran into

The main problem we faced when building the Vaccine Estimator was locating the verified source from CDC and discovering which set of data is compatible with our application. Initially, we were using a different dataset which was not formatted well for our needs and seemed to be inaccurate (or was misinterpreted). Eventually, we switched datasets to the main data provided by the CDC. Afterward, we had some difficulty hosting our server on Google Cloud where the body of one of the requests was blocked. This took a while to figure out. But eventually, we overcame that and successfully deployed our application. When using the Twilio technology, it was hard to understand all the components behind the SMS application: dealing with servers, using Python with Flask, as well as getting connected to the model API sourced from CDC. Step by step, we were able to accomplish one goal at a time, and eventually connected all the applications together.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our smooth and easy integration as well as the accessibility built in to our application. Our system is also highly scalable because of our use of the Google Cloud App Engine which incorporates its own load balancer. We are also proud of the target area of our project: not only is our Vaccine Estimator available to internet users, but it’s also accessible to seniors who do not own a smartphone or computer, in which they can utilize the SMS channel to get an update on their vaccine estimate. It’s accessible to people with disabilities but have access to Voice Assistants, where speaking to Alexa or Google Home Mini is as easy as just asking a person in real life.

What we learned

We learned a lot about API development and data preprocessing. We learned to screen datasets before use so you don’t have to find the better one halfway through. We learned how to utilize technologies such as Twilio for SMS messages, Voice Flow for Smart Voice Assistants, and Google Cloud for hosting our model API server to help boost our project with more features and applicability.

What's next for Vaccine Delivery Estimator

Next, we plan to implement a feature for users to save their phone numbers for future updates about their vaccine estimates. We will then store the data with MongoDb and enable notifications to users when the vaccines become available in their area.

Credits: The Thumbnail: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/medical-protection-shield-with-cross-sign-world-map_7464881.htm This cover has been designed using resources from Freepik.com

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