As per an announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on January 28th, 2022, scheduling appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine at national grocery giant Kroger will now be accessible to individuals with disabilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The DOJ reached a settlement agreement with Kroger Co. last week after many users reported that the company’s site for booking vaccine appointments was not accessible to people with some disabilities, including those with visual impairments who were using screen readers to navigate the site.
Users trying to schedule appointments via the Kroger site reported that critical medical screening questions about current COVID-related symptoms, allergies, and reactions to previous vaccines were not formatted properly to be available to those using screen readers. Additionally, users ran into trouble attempting to secure an appointment time using a screen reader; even when an available appointment time was selected using the screen reader, the Kroger site would indicate that the appointment was unavailable and prevent the booking.
The DOJ found that Kroger’s scheduling site violated Title III of the ADA which requires drugstores and grocery stores to provide people with disabilities equal access to and usage of goods and services, such as vaccines. The ADA also requires these businesses to provide accessible means of communication; this would include ensuring site content is accessible using auxiliary aids and accessible technology like the screen readers people with visual impairments use to access websites.
To ensure appointment scheduling is fully accessible, as stipulated by the settlement with the DOJ, Kroger has agreed to conform all web content about the COVID-19 vaccine to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Version 2.1, Level AA. An additional stipulation of the agreement is that Kroger must commit to regular accessibility testing of website functionality, specifically the functionality of pages that relate to information on COVID-19 and its vaccines. Regular site testing will ensure that the national chain is able to swiftly address any barriers to accessibility that prevent people with disabilities from scheduling vaccine appointments.
Kroger’s accessibility failure in context
By revenue, Kroger is the second-largest grocery retailer in America, second only to Walmart. With around 3,325 stores nationwide including its other brands Harris Teeter and Little Clinic, Kroger also ranks second in the number of stores nationwide, again second only to Walmart. Based in Ohio, Kroger brand stores can be found in 39 states and the District of Columbia, though they are found more commonly in California, the Mid-West, and the Southwest.
To put the settlement into context then, the lack of accessibility on Kroger’s scheduling site affected many individuals across the country. Especially for many living in the Mid-West and Southwest where population and commercial retailers are less densely distributed. For many in rural and suburban communities, the local grocery store is likely the closest and most convenient option for obtaining a COVID vaccine. The barriers people with disabilities experienced in scheduling appointments served to deny them access to what would have been the closest and simplest vaccination option.
The DOJ’s continued commitment to accessibility
The Kroger settlement is the third in a string of similar settlements against large national retailers related to vaccines and website accessibility resolved by the DOJ in recent months. The scheduling site for the pharmacy chain Rite Aid was plagued by similar accessibility issues like Kroger, and its accessibility failures were addressed in a November 2021 settlement with the DOJ. Similarly, the Iowa-based grocery corporation Hy-Vee reached a settlement with the DOJ in December of 2021 to address the accessibility of their vaccine access portal which mislabeled important info, fields, and buttons, and failed to give access to some drop-down menus for people using screen readers.
Representatives from the DOJ continue to declare the department’s commitment to ensuring accessibility and ADA compliance, especially when it comes to access to COVID info and life-saving vaccines. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division indicated in a statement regarding the Kroger settlement that the department wants accessibility to be a priority, saying, “Access for people with disabilities should never be an afterthought.”
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