This dashboard focuses on the accessibility of U.S. state vaccine information websites (Table 2) and centralized state registration systems (Table 3), where individuals use one state portal to register for a COVID-19 vaccine. Information on vaccine information hotlines and availability of TTY (Text Telephone) or video options (Table 4) is also collected.

We score state or territory centralized health department websites that include information on the COVID-19 vaccine. Some states and territories have COVID-19 vaccine information on the general health department COVID-19 information landing webpage only, which is the website scored in these instances. Other states and territories have a separate COVID-19 vaccine webpage, in which case we navigate to that covid-19 vaccine webpage for scoring. State and territory COVID-19 vaccine webpages can change frequently, and content is added or removed over time. Therefore, the URLs listed on this dashboard may not reflect the most up to date webpages.

The accessibility rankings for vaccine web pages are generated from automatic testing data provided by WAVE, a web accessibility evaluation tool administered by WebAIM at Utah State University. The number of detected accessibility errors, the density of those errors on the page, and the number of potential accessibility issues are considered when generating the rankings. A lower score means fewer errors. The most common issues found are text that has insufficient contrast to the background, images that do not have alternative text for blind users, links and buttons that lack descriptive text, and form controls that are not labeled with descriptive text. Automatically detectable accessibility issues do not represent all accessibility issues, but typically indicate barriers for users with disabilities and non-compliance with accessibility guidelines and best practices.

Procedure

Data on vaccine registration and hotline information is abstracted from U.S. state or territory health department websites each week.

Data on accommodation requests were collected from the centralized state COVID-19 vaccine registration systems. No COVID-19 vaccine registration surveys were submitted during this process. Vaccine registration forms for each website were completed online until the requirement for submission, at which point the form was deleted to ensure no falsified information was submitted. Filling out the forms gave access to all questions and allowed for accommodation request questions to be recorded for each COVID-19 vaccine registration website.

Because the COVID-19 vaccine roll out is rapidly evolving, some states or territories may have adjusted their accessibility options within their vaccination registration portal since publication of this dashboard. To find the most current information on COVID-19 vaccine accommodations and accessibility in your state, territory, or jurisdiction, consult your local health department or your health provider.

Limitations

These data are limited to single state-level vaccine pre-registration or registration sites of government webpages and do not include data from states or territories that do not have a centralized state-level registration vaccine portal. For example, states or territories that list multiple providers, each offering independent registration, are not captured. If a state or territory requires creating a new account to register for vaccination, the account creation page was used to access accessibility, but no new accounts were created during this process.

State/territory COVID-19 information webpages are changing rapidly. URLs that were scored and ranked previously may no longer be included in the current ranking if the COVID-19 vaccine registration portals has been removed or if the state or territory no longer has a centralized COVID-19 vaccine registration website.

It is possible that accommodation requests were available after the signature option or appointment creation. In addition, data was only collected from centralized state registration systems. This excluded registration sites which provide individual provider-level registration sites.