Dr. B: How to join the waiting list for leftover vaccines before eligibility opens

NEW YORK: Young, healthy, and ineligible to get the COVID vaccine in your state? A new website offers Americans the opportunity to receive images months before they open their eligibility and without an appointment.

Dr. B, a website created by a team of experts that includes ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi, connects eligible adults with leftover COVID-19 vaccines at risk of expiration. This can happen if a person misses the appointment with the vaccine or if additional doses are presented in a vial, for example.

“Ultimately, patients need this vaccine and there are providers who need help getting it to the right people,” Massoumi told the New York Times. “That’s my motivation.”

More than a million people signed up for the service as of Wednesday morning. It is free to use and any American over the age of 18 can register.

After completing a profile on hidrb.com, people on the list may receive a text message from Mr. B when verified local providers report the service on leftover doses.

Recipients must respond to the text message within 15 minutes and be able to arrive at the vaccination site at a specified time.

Nearly one in ten Americans (more than 32 million people) is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. States are working to increase their vaccination efforts, hoping to get more shots at more arms faster.

CNN Wire contributed to this report.