Dr. B  Lands in LA to Make Sure Extra Vaccine Doses Don't Go To Waste

Keerthi Vedantam

Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

Dr. B  Lands in LA to Make Sure Extra Vaccine Doses Don't Go To Waste
Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash

The shelf life of a thawed coronavirus vaccine is only a few hours, and expired vaccines have to be thrown out.

That inspired the New York-based startup Dr. B, the COVID-19 company meant to reduce vaccine waste created by ZocDoc cofounder Cyrus Massoumi. It's just arrived in Los Angeles, as the eligibility for vaccinations lifts next week.


Dr. B aims to reduce vaccine waste and the chaos that comes with it by matching vaccine providers with prospective patients within hours.

The company said it has secured three providers in the region so far.

To enroll in the waitlist, people have to sign up online at Dr. B's website and share certain health and geographic information to inform the site of local guidelines it needs to follow. When a free appointment pops up, one will receive a text notification. If they don't accept the appointment within a certain time frame, it gives the appointment to someone else.

Its test will come next week when anyone over the age of 16 can make an appointment.

Those using Dr. B would need to drop everything to travel to a vaccination site in a matter of hours. People with inflexible jobs or child care often don't have that luxury.

Already, a slew of community- and company-run sites are helping folks in L.A. find vaccine appointments, including Get Out the Shot and Find My Vax LA, run by recent college graduate Andrew Freidman. Health care startups like Carbon Health and Curative have made efforts to help people find vaccine appointments.

Dr. B's arrival also comes as the region's thinking on "cutting the line" for vaccine doses has shifted.

In February, when L.A. County began administering vaccines to health care workers those who lined up to see if they could score extra doses were often called "vaccine vultures" and chided on social media for not waiting in line.

But as more doses become available, the disdain some felt has faded, with the general consensus now shifting to use the vaccine, no matter what. L.A. County officials have urged health care workers to not throw away vaccines.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

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