TurboVax Is Back To Help NYers Score Coronavirus Vaccine Shots

NEW YORK CITY — TurboVax is back up to help New Yorkers land the best COVID-19 vaccine appointments.

The popular vaccine finder's founder Huge Ma tweeted that the city's IT Commissioner Jessica Tisch and her team reached out to unblock the site.

"We all just want shots in arms so I appreciate the city for partnering with me here," Ma wrote.

TurboVax rose in popularity as an invaluable tool for New Yorkers looking to grab sometimes hard-to-find vaccine appointments. The site and associated Twitter account provided real-time updates on open appointments at city- and state-run sites, as well as other locations like pharmacies.

But the city's IT workers last week set up digital defenses that effectively blocked the TurboVax's "bot" — an automatic program — from culling information on vaccine appointments.

Ma tweeted that the move threatened to permanently shutter TurboVax — much to the consternation and grief of New Yorkers who relied on the site to get doses.

It appears city IT workers heard the complaints — by Saturday, Ma tweeted the site has been unblocked.

Tisch herself tweeted an effusive message about TurboVax helping the city's vax4nyc.nyc.gov surpass a milestone.

"Big Milestone: 1 MILLIONTH dose just administered thru vax4nyc!" she tweeted. "@turbovax: thank you for helping vax4nyc get 1 million #shotsinarms"