By News 12 Westchester Staff | March 4, 2021 at 1:25 AM EST – Updated March 4 at 1:25 AM
SCARSDALE, N.Y. (News 12) – A 12-year-old boy in New York has gotten more than 1,000 elderly people their COVID-19 vaccinations through the website he created to help them find appointments.
Sam Keursch, 12, spends hours a day clicking away on his computer, but he’s not playing video games. He’s helping to save lives by organizing COVID-19 vaccine appointments for seniors in the New York metro area.
It all started when Sam watched his dad help his grandparents get the slots for their COVID-19 shots, and they figured they could help many more people.
“There are a lot of elders that can’t get appointments that well because they’re not very good with technology,” he said.
So, Sam reached out to his neighbor, Gitta Silberstein, a Holocaust survivor who is now trying to beat cancer. She couldn’t get an appointment.
“I needed to get the vaccine before the end of January, so I could start getting my chemo,” Silberstein said.
Sam took down her information and hit refresh until he found an appointment, getting Silberstein the vaccine she needed in January.
As word spread, Sam created a website. Seniors fill out a brief form, and Sam hits refresh, searching for vaccine appointments in places where they have been approved to get it.
“One side of my screen is to do my homework. The second side of my screen is getting appointments,” Sam said.
In about a month, Sam has helped more than 1,000 New Yorkers get their vaccines.
“It’s a pretty amazing thing,” he said. “Now, they can kind of get their life back to normal, and they get to see their grandchildren.”
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