Inefficient. Frustrating. Discouraging.
These are some of the most polite words residents have used in the past few days to describe the experience of registering for the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in New Hampshire.
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Much of the anger is directed at VAMS, the free online platform developed by the CDC that promised state and local public health officials a simplified system for scheduling vaccine appointments and monitoring vaccine supplies.
But while around 40 other states chose not to use VAMS and instead built or contracted their own appointment scheduling systems, New Hampshire opted and maintained VAMS, despite the system’s apparent flaws.
The state refused to answer a list of specific questions about why it chose to use VAMS. But recent statements by a leading public health official signal that New Hampshire may have no other options because of a single gap in the state’s existing public health system: New Hampshire remains the only state in the country without a full vaccination record. operation.
“To make this appointment in the absence of a complete immunization record, we have been using the CDC’s VAMS system,” Dr. Beth Daly, head of DHHS’s Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, told lawmakers last week.
Vaccine records allow states to better monitor immunizations, according to public health officials, which can lead to higher vaccination rates. In 2014, New Hampshire spent $ 1.3 million to create a vaccine record, only to see the project fail in its final stages due to software problems.
In December 2019, the same month a new coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China, the New Hampshire Executive Council approved a $ 1.5 million grant to rebuild a statewide vaccine registry. . However, the system is not yet fully functional, making New Hampshire the only state without an existing vaccine registration.
“We are working to resolve this now,” Daly told NH House Health and Human Services Committee members on Friday.
In 2020, facing the biggest mass vaccination effort in recent history, the CDC rushed to build a national system to program and track COVID-19 vaccinations. The federal government awarded the consultancy Deloitte a $ 44 million non-bid contract to design and launch the program.
But early VAMS reviews seemed negative enough to convince most states to select different systems to implement vaccine programming. This includes in Maine, where Dr. Nirav Shah, from the state’s public health office, told WMTW that VAMS “has not met anyone’s expectations.” Instead, Maine is choosing to build its own platform.
In South Carolina, “VAMS has become a dirty word,” according to Marshall Taylor, who heads that state’s health department, citing a number of frustrations with its implementation.
The CDC says that, in total, only ten “jurisdictions” and a single hospital system are using VAMS.
One such jurisdiction is New Hampshire, where residents currently eligible for vaccination interact with VAMS after first pre-registration through a state website. (Residents can also call the state’s 2-1-1 hotline to schedule appointments.)
After this step, residents receive an email from VAMS inviting them to make an appointment. However, some residents complained that they never received the invitation email from VAMS, or were confused by the language of the site after creating an account.
There have also been complaints about its ease of use for people connecting via smartphones and tablets, and that VAMS does not work if you use Internet Explorer as a web browser.
In the past few days, anger over VAMS has only increased after a poorly implemented new second-dose consultation for residents who currently face long waiting times between the first and second rounds of vaccination.
On Tuesday, New Hampshire officials blamed VAMS for the problem, apologized for the confusion and promised that new appointments would be added to the system within 48 hours. A spokesman for Governor Chris Sununu called VAMS “clumsy” and said the state is working on an alternative system for the next phase of vaccination implementation.
The CDC did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. Many New Hampshire residents, however, say their struggle to navigate VAMS is already aggravating an already tense situation.
“The general attitude is that it’s a mess or like the Hunger Games,” said Diane Freedman of Durham, who tried to use VAMS on Tuesday to reschedule her second shot, only to find that there were no earlier dates available.
A frequent criticism of VAMS is that it does not allow users to search for appointments without first canceling the already scheduled date. Without this search functionality, some residents say they are unwilling to give up their already booked times, even if those appointments are outside the 42-day window recommended by the CDC between vaccination rounds.
“I am totally frustrated,” said Dorothy Powell, of western Lebanon, who tried to use the VAMS website on Tuesday to reschedule her second dose. “I was very happy to receive the notice to go and reschedule my April schedule, but now I don’t even have that time, since I was told to cancel.”
Although individual users may choose to express their frustrations with the local media or on social media, states have been able to raise concerns about VAMS during regularly scheduled meetings with the CDC.
“We continue to be in frequent contact with the CDC regarding issues that arise with people trying to schedule appointments at the appropriate time and place at VAMS,” said Jake Leon, spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services in an announcement. “CDC has been responsive in addressing these issues.”
Leon added the state “successfully used VAMS for vaccine ordering and management during Phase 1A of the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, this is the first time that any system has been used in NH for mass pandemic vaccinations ”.
During an interview with NHPR this week, Daly said the state is working to launch a new vaccination management system that will require only a single step to register and schedule an appointment “which we hope to have ready in the coming weeks”.
It is not clear, however, whether the state will get rid of VAMS completely or whether it will still have the system for behind-the-scenes coordination of ongoing efforts to vaccinate residents.