Communications of the ACM
Faulty Software Snarls Vaccine Sign-Ups
State and local health departments around the country continue to face delays dispensing vaccines, in part because flaws remain in appointment software tools.
Credit: Carlos Bernate/The New York Times
Persistent flaws in software for setting up COVID-19 vaccination appointments online threaten to slow the U.S. vaccine rollout, with many states switching software providers originally recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with little improvement.
The CDC recommended multinational Deloitte's Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) software, which Deloitte said was originally intended for smaller groups at early stages of state rollouts.
Health experts blamed glitches on multiple impediments, including developers condensing work that would normally take years into weeks, localities' individual eligibility requirements, and the inability for different scheduling systems to communicate with each other.
Some frustrated states switched from VAMS to Maryland's PrepMod software, which has been undermined by myriad shortcomings, including failures to reserve appointment slots as people filled out their information.
PrepMod's Tiffany Tate has faulted healthcare workers, and not the software itself, for such difficulties.
From The New York Times
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