Zocdoc Vaccine Scheduler Receives Honorable Mention in the Pandemic Response Category of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards
From a 3D printed vaccine patch to an electric truck, a seawater-powered lamp, and countless other bold innovations, the sixth annual awards honor the products, concepts, companies, policies, and designs that are driving change, tackling issues from climate change to inequality, and so much more.
The winners of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, honoring clean technology, innovative corporate initiatives, brave new designs for cities and buildings, and other creative works that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation, tackling social inequality, climate change, and public health crises.
Zocdoc Vaccine Scheduler received an Honorable Mention in the Pandemic Response Category of the Awards. This service, offered free of charge to all vaccine providers, launched in early 2021 to support and accelerate public health efforts at the height of the vaccine rollout. It allowed hospitals, health systems and public health entities to streamline the logistics surrounding mass vaccination programs. The intuitive, user-friendly COVID-19 vaccine search and booking experience created by Zocdoc made it quick and easy for Americans in more than 20 states to get a vaccination appointment.
Now in its sixth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 39 winners, 350 finalists, and more than 600 honorable mentions — with climate, social justice, and AI and data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,997 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice, and more. In addition, several new categories have been added this year including climate, nature, water, and workplace. The 2022 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Australia.
Fast Company’s Summer 2022 issue (on newsstands May 10, 2022) will showcase some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling global challenges. The issues highlight, among others, probiotics for coral reefs, easy-to-assemble kit homes for refugees or disaster survivors, a 3D printed vaccine patch, an electric truck, a system to heat homes from the waste heat of a name-brand factory, and prosecutor-initiated resentencing for overly long prison sentences.
“Zocdoc’s founding mission is to give power to the patient, and throughout the pandemic, we have been focused on contributing to public health efforts where we are uniquely positioned to help,” said Oliver Kharraz, M.D., Zocdoc founder & CEO. “Zocdoc Vaccine Scheduler allowed us to support the vaccine rollout by helping patients connect quickly and efficiently with care providers offering the COVID-19 vaccine. We are proud to be honored alongside so many other innovative companies that positively impacted society during the pandemic, and congratulate each of them on their accomplishments.”
“We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society’s most pressing problems, from shelter to the climate crisis. Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges,” says David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution.”
About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
