Washington State COVID-19 Vaccine Alert

UX Research | UX Design

The Project

My INFO 360 Design Thinking class at the University of Washington was tasked designing solutions to pandemic-related information problems. A partner and I worked on this project between January and March 2021.

My Role

I conducted remote interviews and usability testing, analyzed data, worked on the design of our prototype, and wrote research reports and design specifications.

Background

In the first few months after COVID-19 vaccines became available, securing a vaccination appointment was a frustrating and time-consuming task. Due to vaccine shortages, not all people who were eligible for a vaccine were able to get one. 

Washington State lacked a single source for up-to-date information on which healthcare centers have available vaccines. In order to make a vaccination appointment, a person would have to regularly check different healthcare centers’ websites to find an availability.  

There would often be a frenzy when providers would release limited batches of vaccination appointments. Appointments were claimed almost immediately after being released. Long lines, which in themselves posed a health risk, formed outside healthcare facilities rumored to have available doses. In some cases, people with personal ties to healthcare facilities (e.g., donors, friends and family of staff) received preferential access to vaccines.

Inconsistent vaccine distribution had the potential to reinforce existing social inequities. Appointments were more accessible to people who had the resources, ability, and knowledge to check healthcare centers’ websites frequently and to sign up for last-minute appointments. The existing system favored people with a reliable internet connection, access to transportation, and a flexible work schedule because appointment information was updated inconsistently and appointments typically opened up with little notice or flexibility in scheduling. Recent research on barriers to vaccination identifies structural constraints such as “the time someone has to take to get vaccinated, easy of physical access, and geographic and functional proximity to vaccines” as key factors that can discourage an individual from getting vaccinated.

Additionally, the disorganized nature of vaccine distribution at this time required people to switch between multiple websites and make phone calls, posing a challenge to people with limited hearing or sight as well as those who have a low level of technological literacy.

Research Process

I began by researching Washington’s vaccination policies and existing systems offered by providers, public health websites, and more to develop an understanding of the current vaccination process. I wanted to find out why it was so hard to find a vaccine and discover opportunities to make the process easier.

My partner and I then interviewed 10 people who either had been or were trying to get vaccinated. We wanted to learn about how people find vaccination appointments: where they look, who they talk to, what information they trust, what they find frustrating, etc.

Using this data, I put together three personas representing key behaviors, goals, and pain points experienced by people seeking vaccines.

User Experience Map

I created current-state user experience maps to summarize our findings and identify pain points in the vaccine search process.

Key Findings

There are too many channel transitions. Switching from one medium of interaction to another (e.g., from browsing a website to making a phone call) can be bothersome and time consuming. Having to do this repeatedly creates roadblocks that increase the difficulty of finding a vaccine—and sometimes discourage people entirely. Many of these transitions are the result of inaccurate and incomplete information on provider websites.

• People often find vaccines through their social networks, through interactions ranging from private conversations to social media posts. They might confirm a rumored availability by mapping the provider’s distance from their home, checking the provider’s website, and then calling the provider or visiting them in-person.

• A person must call to confirm availability or schedule an appointment after seeing after seeing a possible opening online.

• It is common for a person to search for vaccines for both themselves and friends/family at the same time. This can be challenging because many providers’ websites don’t show how many appointments are available or require a user to create a separate account for each appointment. Keeping track of each person’s location, vaccine type preference, and eligibility category further increases the complexity of the search and the number of times someone must switch between using different channels.

People face long wait times at all stages of the vaccine search process. Many people initially expect to get vaccinated quickly and begin making travel or social plans once they are eligible for vaccination, making unexpected delays particularly stressful and frustrating.

• There is often a significant delay between the time when more vaccines are available at a clinic and when the availability is announced on the clinic’s website or social media pages.

• It can take weeks of active searching for a person to get their first dose.

• Once at a clinic, there is often a long wait before getting vaccinated. This is particularly true for walk ups, who may wait for hours only to be turned away once the clinic runs out of vaccines.

Reliance on online systems creates accessibility and inclusion issues.

• The use of provider or vaccine locator websites requires a certain level of visual ability and fine motor skills. Many of these websites lack accessibility features and are unusable for older adults and people with disabilities.

• Many older adults are uncomfortable using online systems due to a lack of experience, knowledge, or ability with new technology. Although Washington’s vaccine rollout plan prioritizes adults over 65, the web-based nature of appointment search can pose challenges for many in this population.

• Vaccine search websites are out of reach for people with limited access to computers or the internet.

When looking for an appointment, who you know matters.

• People are often highly influenced by their acquaintances’ vaccination experiences. When looking for an appointment, someone will likely consider when and where people they know got vaccinated.

• Since there is no official source for vaccine availability, the most up-to-date information is shared informally online through social media like Twitter and Facebook. People who are unable to use these platforms or find the right groups within them can miss out on important information and may have to rely on friends and family for help finding an appointment.

• People with personal connections to a healthcare provider (e.g., a family member who works at a clinic) often have an easier time finding an appointment because they can access information on scheduling procedures and vaccine availability that isn’t available to the public.

Ideation

We initially decided to create a website and hotline with up-to-date vaccine availability information for all providers in Washington State.

This objective was satisfied by the WA COVID Vaccine Finder website, which went live midway through our project, creating a wonderful resource for people to vaccines in their area. At that point, my partner and I decided to continue with our plan to create a vaccine search tool, but shift our focus to creating an alert system that can inform someone as soon as an appointment that matches their selected criteria is available.

Future State Experience Flow

The website component of our design is divided into three pages: eligibility, appointments, and alerts. We wanted our solution to encompass all aspects of the vaccine search process, from determining whether someone can get vaccinated to scheduling their appointment, in order to create a cohesive experience and eliminate friction caused by switching between channels.

Our design addresses the two main problems with the current vaccine search process:

1. No single source for information on COVID-19 vaccine providers and vaccine availability across Washington State.

   Instead of having to check numerous websites, Washingtonians now have a single source for information on COVID-19 vaccine providers and vaccine availability across the state. This saves time, simplifies the search process, and makes important information more accessible.

2. No notification when vaccination appointments open up.

   People no longer need to keep checking vaccine finder websites to see if an appointment is available in their area. Now, they will get an alert as soon as an appointment is available which matches their preferences. This means they won’t miss out on an appointment just because they didn’t check the right website at the right time.

My team and I used this experience flow to create low fidelity prototypes which we tested with a heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthroughs before creating our high fidelity prototype.

Takeaways

1. Consider the broader social context in which users will engage with the product. We found that people’s vaccination processes are influenced by who they know. As we worked on our design, my team considered how a person’s connections might shape their priorities, motivations, and needs when getting vaccinated.

2. Coherence is key. Frequent transitions between channels with different information architecture, visual design, etc. are a major source of friction in the vaccine search process which we sought to eliminate with our solution. While we were unable to achieve consistency due to variation between providers and disorganized data, we were able to create coherence by finding ways to unite different systems while maintaining flexibility.

3. Sometimes the most you can change is perception. We may not have the power to accelerate vaccine production or optimize the distribution process. However, by automating vaccine search we can reduce the amount of active time a person spends looking for a vaccine, making the whole process feel shorter and easier (even if the amount of time it takes to get vaccinated remains unchanged).