It is no secret that the United States is struggling to distribute coronavirus vaccines; some states have not received enough doses, and finding an appointment on registration sites has been a chaotic experience. A new report in MIT Technology Review analyzes why, almost a year after the start of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seemed totally unprepared to actually bring vaccines into people’s arms.
According Technology analysis, the agency knew it needed a robust, one-stop shop that could be used by patients, clinics, employers and government officials. But instead, the CDC spent $ 44 million on something called the Vaccine Administration Management System – VAMS – built by the consulting firm Deloitte (via contracts without bidding) that was so inadequate that it prompted some states to try to patch it up. vaccine delivery systems itself.
Clinic staff in Connecticut, Virginia and other states say the system is notorious for randomly canceled appointments, unreliable registrations and problems that block panel employees they should use to register registrations. The CDC recognizes that there are several flaws that it is working to correct, although it attributes some of the problems to user errors.
And it is not just a matter of older people not having enough technology knowledge to navigate the site (although this is a big problem); many doctors’ offices that tried to use VAMS, for the most part, gave up. Courtney Rowe, from the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, told Technology Review that she has become de facto technical support for many patients trying to make an appointment:
“It doesn’t work on Internet Explorer; it only works on Chrome. The ‘Next’ button is all the way down and to the right, so if you’re on a cell phone, you literally won’t be able to see it, ”says Rowe. “In the first shift, most people who used VAMS had postgraduate degrees. If you are 75 years old and someone asks you to join VAMS, there is no way it will happen without help. “
Take a deep breath before diving into this annoying report on how failed government systems are adding to the confusion surrounding the distribution of vaccines.