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Anthony DiNicola is on a personal mission: help as many eligible people as possible to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Onondaga County.

The Syracuse superfan began booking vaccine appointments for vulnerable community members after he saw the difficulties people were having with registration. And through the network he has created from his Twitter account CuseWaterBoy, he’s helped over 136 people get vaccinated so far and intends to keep going.

DiNicola encourages others, especially SU students, to help people sign up for vaccine appointments. He sees it both as an easy way to help others directly and a way to hopefully speed up the response to the pandemic.

“If every person in the community signed up one other person, we would knock this out of the park immediately,” DiNicola said. “It would be done so fast.”

DiNicola realized how difficult the registration process could be for people less familiar with the internet when he helped his fiancee’s grandmother schedule her appointment. He then started booking appointments for six other eligible family members with the help of his fiancee.

So far, DiNicola has helped over 136 people.Wendy Wang | Staff Photographer

Carly DiCocco, a Twitter friend of DiNicola’s, had a similar experience while setting up a time for her vaccine. Unlike what DiCocco was expecting, though, it took her 52 minutes to finally secure her appointment. After that experience, she realized how frustrating the process was. She started working with DiNicola through Twitter to sign up eligible people.

DiNicola and DiCocco find appointments by checking the news for announcements that more time slots are being released or by refreshing the registration page. Catching appointments when someone cancels or reschedules is “how we’ve been able to snag them,” DiCocco said.

To get in touch with people outside his family, DiNicola relies on Facebook and word-of-mouth. He posts in Facebook groups like Camillus Community Connection, Pay It Forward CNY and other locally based groups and offers to help anyone who’s currently eligible get a vaccine appointment. People he’s already helped will vouch for him in the comments and encourage others to reach out to him.

Since a vaccine appointment isn’t reserved until the online form is completed, DiNicola puts in the least possible information to complete it as quickly as possible, only worrying about getting people’s basic information like name, address, phone number and date of birth.

After booking an appointment, he’ll keep looking and will reschedule people if he’s able to find a sooner time. Sometimes, DiNicola will be able to secure appointments for people that very weekend or a few days later. If the appointment is on a weekday, he’ll encourage them to use a sick day so that they’re able to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The more people that get shots quicker, the more appointments that’ll open up down the road for other people,” DiNicola said. “Let’s do it like an assembly line, get people in, get shots in arms.”

Helping people schedule vaccine appointments has helped DiCocco to deal with the pandemic.

It’s been good to be able to help people sleep a little better at night knowing that the vaccine is on the horizon, DiCocco said.

The hope of the vaccine hasn’t only impacted DiNicola and DiCocco, but also the people they’ve been helping to secure appointments. Patti DePaulis has her first shot scheduled for Thursday, thanks to DiNicola.

@CuseWaterBoy

^^^Shout out to this dude for getting my mom's vax appointment moved up from the 22nd to the 8th.

You are the man and I am thankful!

— Julio Martinez (@jujols) March 1, 2021

Though DePaulis was skeptical of DiNicola at first, someone she trusted recommended him, and she soon learned how reliable he was. The initial conversations with DiNicola, though, before she worked with him, required her to “step out of my comfort zone and trust,” DePaulis said.

After DePaulis reached out, DiNicola was able to secure appointments for both her and her husband. DePaulis then began referring other friends to DiNicola for getting appointments scheduled.

DiNicola also aided Kimberly Cunningham’s family through his efforts. After Cunningham reached out to him, he was able to get her and her sons, who are essential workers, appointments for their vaccines.

“If anybody needs help, he has magic fingers,” Cunningham said.

Published on March 1, 2021 at 10:34 pm

Contact Abby: avpresso@syr.edu | @abbyvp08