Technical problems, flooded websites prevent the launch of vaccines in the US

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In Mississippi, an online vaccine registration system was slashed in a sudden traffic attack. Officials from a local Georgia health department had to resort to counting all the doses they received before scheduling appointments. There is a $ 44 million national vaccine scheduling and monitoring system remaining largely unused by the states.

And California, Idaho and North Dakota vaccinations were counted because workers forgot to click the “submit” button at the end of the day.

Across the U.S., a vaccination campaign that sought to reverse the pandemic tide and stimulate the nation’s economic recovery is getting bogged down by technical and software problems. Public health departments with cash problems try to keep their websites from crashing while booking millions of appointments, track unpredictable inventories, and record how many shots they offer.

The situation in the United States, where technology giants live, is frustrating an audience eager for inoculations. In addition, data gaps could distort the national picture of vaccine use efficacy if a number of doses are not counted.

“Our sense is that it’s a substantial amount,” said Marcus Plescia, chief physician of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “This will become clearer as data systems improve and we have a better idea of ​​what we are missing.”

Covering gaps

It is a situation that some officials saw coming. Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield cited “years of insufficient investment” in public health systems in his testimony before Congress in September. He said then that the Trump administration planned to help states plug holes in IT capacity.

“Hopefully, there will be more resources to start filling these gaps because it will be very important that we have the information for the control and safety of these vaccines,” he said.

Redfield and groups representing state health officials he told lawmakers that billions of investments would be needed to help states distribute shots. But Congress did not allocate that money until it passed a funding bill in late December, after states had already begun vaccinating people.

Private companies that give vaccines experience their own problems. Jarred Phillips, his sister, his mother and his father, in turn, searched the Jarred Phillips website Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. he will find an appointment to vaccinate his mother. The process included creating an account, searching by zip code, then by store, by day, and by three-hour time slot.

Nothing came out. Phillips, a 36-year-old tech worker in Wilmington, Delaware, even looked for rural zip codes where there might be a demand for light. Nothing. Hours later, he couldn’t figure out why the process was so complicated.

“At some point, these solutions need to get to know people where they are,” he said.

Walgreens spokeswoman Kelli Teno said the company has “dedicated teams that are actively working on these issues to ensure an easy, safe and transparent experience for all eligible people” trying to schedule their vaccines.

Patchwork systems

Like much of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, the vaccination effort has been deployed in a patchwork approach. And it has been placed on an already fragmented health system. The result is a mix of digital systems across the country that have exasperated many people trying to use them.

“The biggest mistake was that the government was a little too focused on the first problem: how to get vaccines and send them to different places,” said Eren Bali, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Health Technologies Inc. “It was definitely a carelessness that didn’t start before.”

So far, about 49 million doses have been distributed in the U.S. Approximately 23.5 million people have received the first of their two vaccines and 5 million have received both, according to Bloomberg Vaccine follower. Last month, Trump administration officials had projected that 30 million people could be fully vaccinated by the end of January.

It is recommended to register people in advance to prevent crowds from forming in clinics, especially with the virus still growing in many communities. But registrations have sometimes been chaotic, especially for seniors who are among the first to get vaccinated, with dating websites that appear to be lotteries.

Before opening appointments, the county health departments of Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale in Georgia first account for their inventory. The planned supply may change each week and the amount that arrives may vary. The health department relies on Bookly, a web add-on it began using last year to test for coronavirus.

New appointments open once a week. Hours are filled.

“It’s hard to communicate with the audience as to when appointments open,” said Audrey Arona, the director. “I know there’s a lot of frustration about having to sit on the website constantly when they open appointments.”

The Georgia Department of Public Health is working on a centralized scheduling system. The tool is expected to be ready by mid-February, spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in an email.