MBA student connects Kansas City residents with vaccine appointments
University of Kansas MBA student Anureet Hans has created a website to help people in the Kansas City metro area find COVID-19 vaccines. The site connects locals to pharmacies and other vaccine providers in their area.
Hans was inspired to create the site after he struggled to find appointments for his parents.
“It took days of looking around and researching to find a vaccine appointment for my parents,” he said. “After my parents had received their vaccine, I thought of how many people were probably out there struggling to find vaccine appointments for their loved ones. So, the next day, I created the website.”
Hans saw that by connecting people to local pharmacies and grocery stores, he could take the pressure off of hospitals and dedicated vaccination sites while making it more convenient for people to receive their vaccine. Instead of having to check for appointments on each individual site, users can navigate through all appointment availabilities in just a few clicks.
The website passed 40,000 visitors in just two weeks. Though Hans cannot track how many people used the site to book appointments, he estimates that if just 25 percent of users who visited booked an appointment, it led to over 10,000 vaccinations.
Hans believes his MBA program experience has contributed to the site’s success.
“The MBA program helped in the process of thinking strategically and innovatively,” he said. “Many classes I have had stressed the concept of efficiency. It’s all about what you can do with the most amount of information and put it out with the least amount of words. The website is literally what that is.”
The most impactful experience from Hans’ MBA has been a strategic management class with associate professor Jane Zhao. The class taught him to think and act strategically for a self-transcending purpose.
Hans hopes the community has found the website useful and that the resources provide a step toward normalcy. Visit KCVaccines.net to find a vaccine appointment in the Kansas City metro area.
Meaghan Boyd
