It’s no secret that the US is struggling to spread coronavirus vaccines; some states did not receive enough doses, and it was a chaotic experience to find an appointment on login sites. A new report in MIT Technology Overview see why the disease control and prevention centers for almost a year in the pandemic seemed completely unprepared to get shots in people’s arms.
According to Technology overview, 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 Vaccines Administration Management System — VAMS — built by consulting firm Deloitte (via no-bid contracts) that was so inadequate that it drove some states to try their own vaccine. fix. distribution systems instead.
Clinic workers in Connecticut, Virginia and other states say the system is notorious for randomly canceled appointments, unreliable registration and problems locking staff off the dashboard that they have to use to record records. The CDC acknowledges that there are several bugs that fix it, although it attributes some issues to user errors.
And it’s not just an issue of elderly people who are not technically proficient enough to navigate the site (although it’s a big issue); many doctor offices that tried to use VAMS mostly gave up hope. Courtney Rowe of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center told Technology Review that she’s become de facto technical support for many patients trying to make appointments:
‘It will not work on Internet Explorer; it only works in Chrome. The ‘Next’ button is in the far right, so if you’ve on a cell phone you can literally not see it, ‘says Rowe. ‘In the first round, people using VAMS mostly had advanced degrees. If you are 75 and someone asks you to sign up for VAMS, there is zero manner it will happen without help. ”
Take a deep breath before diving into this furious report on how broken government systems are contributing to the mess surrounding vaccine distribution.