As many people are still waiting for their chance to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a Toronto-based developer designed a calculator which can estimate when one can receive the immunization against the deadly virus.
Jasmine Mah, one of those who helped design the calculator stated said that it would take at least eight months before she gets access to the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a statement with CBC Toronto, Mah said that she will possibly get the vaccine before the end of august as she is in the Stage 3.
How Does the Vaccine Calculator Work?
The calculator built by Mah estimates the time one can get the vaccine by entering several basic data on the tool. The information needed to determine the possible timeline would be the person's age, whether one is a healthcare worker, and living arrangements.
The tool then uses information it gets from public health authorities in Canada regarding the number of doses that are expected to be delivered and administered in the following months.
The tool also follows the outline set by the Canadian government on who gets access to the vaccine first. Based on their rollout outline, senior citizens, healthcare workers, long-term care residents, and indigenous adust will receive the first batch of rollout.
The website of the Ontario government also stated that "Stage 3" of the vaccination, where Mah belongs, would start when there are already available vaccines for those who want to get the immunization. However, it was also explained that the prioritization scheme in the said phase would be based on data, ethical framework, and supply of the vaccine.
Mah also stated that the results of the tool are still vague since many areas are still working out the scheme, but the tool generally gives an idea for every individual.
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First Launched in UK
Mah, who hails from Toronto, is a developer with Omni Calculator. The company is known for creating different types of calculators that can determine many things from the time it takes to chill a beverage up to calculating a person's yearly plastic footprint.
The Canadian developer worked with one of her colleagues from Omni who is based in the United Kingdom, Steve Wooding, in making the calculator.
According to Mah, an equivalent type of calculator has already been launched in the UK by Wooding and that at least seven million people have tried it out since December.
To explain the way the calculator works, Wooding said that they were built through counting the number of people in every priority group. Moreover, the developer also needs to learn all possible plans of the government in administering the vaccine in order to ensure that the estimates are correct.
However, both Mah and Wooding has stated that there are still several variables that are needed to be considered. Thsi includes the number of people in a population that will agree to vaccination, and if all of the country's pre-ordered vaccines will pass clinical trials and be delivered.
They did, however, stress that their main goal at the moment is to make the calculator as accurate as possible as time goes on.
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