COVID vaccine: Use this site to see when you're eligible
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our worlds upside down over the past year. Most of us have gone from social gatherings to social distancing and from office work to remote work. Even some schools have gone virtual across the nation.
The good news? There’s hope on the horizon thanks to the COVID-19 vaccines that are rolling out. We’re still in the early phases of vaccine rollouts, but many people hope to get their first shot soon.
Who, where and how you can get vaccinated differs in each state and with each phase of the rollout. Those COVID-19 vaccine scams going around sure don’t help things, either. If you’re trying to nail down when you are eligible to get immunized, a new site can help.
Here’s the backstory
If you want to find out state-specific details of the vaccination plan in your area, you now have a new tool at your disposal to help out. A site called PlanYourVaccine.com from Comcast NBCUniversal just launched, and it can help you find the information you’re looking for.
Before this site, it wasn’t easy to find a centralized source of information on COVID vaccines. Each state is handling its own vaccine rollout plan, which means different methods to navigate when looking for updated and correct information. That makes it complicated to find information pertaining to your area.
Now that this site is live, you can use it to look for updates on availability, eligibility and other factors related to the COVID-19 vaccine in your area. You can use it to find out who can get the shot, who has to wait and who’s next in the queue for getting vaccinated.
RELATED: With vaccines on the way, 4 ways scammers are out to get you
The site also provides information on distribution timelines in your area and where you can find the closest vaccination site to you. This information is beneficial right now, when vaccines are in high demand and supply is low. You can even use it to sign up for alerts on vaccine distribution changes or updates.
Want to refer a friend or family member who doesn’t speak English? No problem. This site is in English, Spanish and Mandarin, so there are a few options.
“The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is an incredibly complicated challenge, but it’s a critical step to getting our country back to normal,” Adam Miller, chief administration officer at Comcast Corporation and executive vice president at NBCUniversal, said in a statement. “We have the unique ability to leverage our considerable platforms and resources across Comcast NBCUniversal to raise awareness and help people navigate the ever-changing array of information on this issue.”
How do I use this site?
Watch out! A malicious ad is the top result when you search for this company on Google
So many different scams have transpired over the past year that it can be hard to keep up with new ones. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new ways for cybercriminals to target people on the web.
Think about all the COVID-related scams we’ve seen over the past few months alone. There have been tons of vaccine scams, stimulus check scams and even disinformation campaigns targeting people looking for vaccine information. This COVID vaccine scam is particularly nasty – here are the signs to watch for.
With vaccines on the way, 4 ways scammers are out to get you
When there’s an opportunity to part a victim from their money, scammers will take it. We’ve seen it happen consistently over the last year, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not only are scammers capitalizing on phishing and shopping scams, but they’ve also been taking advantage of pandemic-related schemes. For starters, we’ve seen a ton of COVID-19 phone scams in recent months. We’ve also seen lots of job-related scams due to high unemployment numbers.