Grandparents' Vaccine Plight Prompts NJ Teens To Build Website

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Like many seniors in New Jersey, Sharda and Sudhir Mathur of Edison struggled to find COVID vaccine appointments.

The couple in their 70s had trouble navigating the state’s vaccine hub and would often be on call with relatives to guide them through the process.

Seeing the retirees struggle, their grandsons stepped in and turned frustration into inspiration.

Dhillon, 17, and Shaan Choudhri, 15 of Lawrenceville have created a one-stop, simple website to help seniors like their grandparents book COVID vaccine appointments and find the nearest location.

“My grandparents registered for the vaccine and were eligible, but their biggest struggle was finding places that actually offered the vaccine,” said Dhillon.

“A lot of my friends parents and grandparents had the same issue. So, we wanted to make a website to aid that process in finding where the vaccines are available,” he said.

Students at The Lawrenceville School, the brothers spent their spring break building the site http://www.njvaxfinder.com/.

The website took around four week to complete — from ideation, design to completion.

The bare bones website is quite simple to navigate. The user has to put in their zip code and the nearest vaccine location would show up on screen with links to book an appointment.

The site also includes helpful links like vaccine types, information on how vaccines works and a link to report any side effects from the innoculation.

“I think the website is good for older people because it provides all the information right there and you don't really need to go searching for anything,” said Shaan.

The 15-year-old is a savvy programmer who did all the backend development for the website.

"I was making programs to constantly update vaccine statistics from the state. Another functionality is that it updates the database of vaccination centers. So, all the information is always up-to-date,” he said.

Dhillon meanwhile designed the “look” of the website.

“My job was to basically make a presentable website. But I thought what Shaan did was really cool,” he said.

The teens did take feedback from parents and teachers.

Their mother Deepika is a pharmacist and father Ajay, is an interventional radiologist at Capital Health. The family have been Lawrenceville residents for the past 20 years.

“Our parents did kind of critique our website. They helped us make sure that it was easy to use for people who are less technologically savvy,” said Dhillon.

Dhillon and Shaan also sent their website to their academic advisor in school for feedback.

“I’m always open to suggestions from anyone,” said Dhillon.

With classes and sports keeping them busy, the brothers make sure to dedicate time to improve their website.

Dhillon has just started his college application process and says he has a few schools he’s “really interested in.”

“But I’m still undecided about what I want to do with my career,” he said.

“I do have a background with computer science, but I'm also pretty interested in politics and law.”

Shaan who’s a freshman in high school is interested in math and science.

Both are baseball players who are quite social and love hanging out with friends.

“Now that our website is out there, we want more people to use it because it’s simple and easy. We just want to help in anyway we can,” said Dhillon.

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

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