Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 13;28(9):1990-1995.
doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab105.

Accessibility evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine registration websites across the United States

Sarah Alismail  1 , Wallace Chipidza  1
Affiliations

Accessibility evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine registration websites across the United States

Sarah Alismail et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. .

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated the web accessibility of 54 official COVID-19 vaccine registration websites in the US and their concordance with the WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 guidelines. We employed AChecker, WAVE, and SortSite web accessibility evaluation tools to conduct automated analyses of these websites. The results showed suboptimal compliance with WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 guidelines, as determined using the AChecker, WAVE, and SortSite tools. These shortcomings in compliance may pose difficulties to users with disabilities as they access information on the websites. Based on our findings, we offered recommendations for states and other authorities to improve the accessibility of their websites to ensure that users with disabilities can independently schedule vaccination appointments.

Keywords: COVID-19; WCAG; vaccine registration websites; web accessibility.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Examples of common accessibility problems as per AChecker.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Examples of common accessibility errors as per WAVE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Malik AA, McFadden SM, Elharake J, Omer SB.. Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in the US. EClinicalMedicine 2020; 26: 100495. - PMC - PubMed
    1. US Department of Health and Human Services. COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution: The Process. HHS.gov. December 16, 2020. https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines/distribution/index.htmlAccessed February 15, 2021
    1. Bai Y, Grzeslo J, Min B, Jayakar K.. Accessibility of local government websites: influence of financial resources, county characteristics and local demographics. Univ Access Inf Soc 2020: 1–11.
    1. Web Accessibility Initiative. Introduction to Web Accessibility. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/Accessed February 14, 2021
    1. Web Accessibility Initiative. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/Accessed February 14, 2021

Substances