COVID-19 vaccine providers are required to successfully enroll in a federal vaccine distribution program which instructs the proper handling and administration of the vaccine. They are also required by federal law to report specific information for each dose they administer in the Vaccine administration management system (VAMS), a secure national database accessed by states to monitor vaccine administration. It is important to note that the numbers in VAMS, the way they are registered and the time when they can be / are registered are impacting the amount of vaccines that VAMS says hospitals have in hand. In addition, many of the available doses are reserved for Phase 1a individuals with appointments scheduled in the near future.
