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Ana Guevara was determined to get a COVID vaccine for her mother, 85-year-old Adelina Coto, but she needed help. Guevara, a full-time nanny in Los Angeles, didn鈥檛 have the time or knowledge to search for appointments online. Guevara鈥檚 son, a school district employee, lacked the time to park himself in front of a computer waiting for new appointments to drop.

Then Guevara鈥檚 boss connected her with a group that volunteers to help people like her mother get vaccinated.

Three days and one phone call later, Coto had a vaccine appointment. Now her daughter is telling everyone she knows about the group.

鈥淚 tell all my friends,鈥� said the 53-year-old immigrant from El Salvador. 鈥淭hey help, they鈥檙e very nice, and they do everything.鈥�

Guevara is one of hundreds of people finding elusive vaccine appointment slots with the help of strangers. Grassroots volunteer corps鈥攑owered by people with time, tech savvy, and a computer at their fingertips鈥攁re popping up in major metropolitan areas where thousands of people are competing for the same appointment slots. Their altruism offers an antidote to the actions of vaccine line jumpers.

鈥淚 would like to take away the stigma that appointments are not available and that they are impossible to get,鈥� said Rhea Hoffman, a 34-year-old former teacher in the Coachella Valley who has been helping people get vaccinated. 鈥淚 can probably get you one within 48 hours if you qualify, and it鈥檚 not a problem鈥攋ust give me a second.鈥�

The volunteers reinforce local governments in helping disadvantaged people get vaccinated. In California, county officials are running hotlines, organizing mobile clinics, hiring community health workers, and teaming up with faith communities and community organizations to get people signed up for an appointment or vaccinated on the spot.

Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County鈥檚 public health director, gives big kudos to the 鈥渁wesome鈥� volunteer groups. 鈥淚t makes my heart feel good that people are stepping up and helping people who really have been struggling to get those appointments,鈥� Ferrer told Kaiser Health News at a news briefing.

The L.A. County neighborhoods hit hardest by the coronavirus are also the ones with the lowest vaccination rates. In poorer areas like Pacoima, San Fernando, and Hawaiian Gardens, for example,  as of Feb. 20, while in wealthy Bel-Air, Century City, and Beverly Hills, one-third of residents had been vaccinated. Statewide statistics show similar disparities.

We need all hands on deck to help people get access to this vaccine.

The volunteer groups are vital to expanding vaccines to low-income, disabled, and isolated people, said Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County. Her group represents 64 community clinics and health centers that have all pivoted to getting people vaccinated in some way, either by directly administering shots or helping people navigate registration systems. (The clinics hope to eventually be compensated for this extra work.)

鈥淲e need all hands on deck to help people get access to this vaccine,鈥� McCarthy said. 鈥淔olks are getting left behind already, and it鈥檚 projects like this that help us begin to catch up.鈥�

Volunteers have joined the effort after seeing how hard it was to book appointments for themselves, parents or grandparents. They get a kick out of helping people, and joining like-minded altruists on social media helps them get more efficient at the process.

It鈥檚 an easy conversion from 鈥渃aring about your parents and learning these skills, to caring about someone else鈥檚 parents or grandparents,鈥� said Liz Schwandt, a 45-year-old early childhood program director at a Jewish preschool in Los Angeles. She co-founded , the group that made Coto鈥檚 appointment, and now has about 100 vetted volunteers who have booked at least 300 appointments directly through the group鈥檚 system, and up to 4,000 through their individual efforts.

Schwandt said she didn鈥檛 take on this mission out of anger and doesn鈥檛 cast blame on the vaccine rollout or public health workers, who she said work diligently to protect people鈥檚 health. It was simply that she saw a need and could fill it.

鈥淭hese technology barriers are real, and every shot that gets into someone is potential protection for their life and their family,鈥� she said.

To get help from Schwandt鈥檚 group, Los Angeles residents can leave a phone message or fill out their location, availability, and other details on a Google form. Then a volunteer picks up the case, finds an appointment and calls to confirm.

The most skilled vaccine bookers have memorized the days and times certain sites release a new batch of appointments and stay up-to-date on new developments through Facebook groups or other social media.

There鈥檚 no excuse for me, as a retired person with the available resources to help people, to just sit around and do nothing.

Beverly Hills couple George and Cathi Rimalower, whose grandchild attends Schwandt鈥檚 school, have been pulling late nights to get appointments for others. They were still in their pajamas at 11:30 a.m. on a recent day after waiting until 1 a.m. for a batch of appointments to drop.

鈥淚n my case, there鈥檚 no excuse for me, as a retired person with the available resources to help people, to just sit around and do nothing,鈥� said George Rimalower, 69, who ran a translation company with his wife. Rimalower, born in Argentina, responds mostly to requests from native Spanish speakers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to give money, and that鈥檚 always helpful,鈥� said Cathi Rimalower, 67. 鈥淏ut it really feels good to give some time, too.鈥�

The couple are teasingly competitive about their work. So far, each has booked about 60 appointments.

Hoffman, the Coachella Valley booker, had spent most of the pandemic supervising her two kids鈥� online schooling while volunteering as a Zoom moderator for a community college class for elderly people. When vaccines finally came online, it took her four days to make appointments for her parents. After seeing how tough the process was, she asked her class whether they needed help; most students raised their hands.

Hoffman and a friend who worked in marketing and graphic design  to advertise their volunteer services. Hoffman estimates the two have booked 350 appointments. They鈥檝e talked with a Coachella City Council member to strategize how they can expand and help in a more official way.

Many of these volunteer organizations are focusing on getting minorities or those from underserved communities into certain vaccine locations and appointment slots.

In Chicago, 26-year-old Brianna Wolin said the 45 鈥�Chicago Vaccine Angels鈥� on her Facebook group have scheduled more than 750 vaccine appointments for seniors and others, while keeping equity in mind.

鈥淲e will not book people who live in a northern suburb to come down to the southwest side of Chicago, where they would have never stepped foot until there was an opening for a vaccine that they so desperately wanted,鈥� she said.

鈥淎fter a year of caring so much about yourself and your own needs and your own safety, it feels darn good to do something for others,鈥� said Wolin, a graduate student studying prosthetics and orthotics.

This article was originally published by , and produced by Kaiser Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. It is republished here through the SoJo Exchange from , a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems.鈥�