The Vaccine Administration Management System, called VAMS, was built by the consulting firm Deloitte. In May, the CDC gave Deloitte $16 million to build and manage the system for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration tracking, and it gave the company another $28 million for the project in December.
The CDC wanted Deloitte to build a system to streamline the nation’s entire COVID-19 vaccination campaign, including sign-ups, scheduling, inventory tracking and immunization reporting.
However, since states have begun vaccinating their populations, most have abandoned VAMS. Many have struck deals to use other IT systems, whereas others have stopped using VAMS without replacing it, taxing overwhelmed county health departments with the responsibility of vaccination planning and data management.
Even though VAMS is free for states to use, many have concluded the problems arising from the system outweigh the benefits for its use. Clinic, hospital and public health department employees in several states told MIT Technology Review the system often randomly cancels appointments, inhibits users from registering and locks staff out of the dashboard.
Those employees familiar with VAMS also told MIT Technology Review the system’s user interface is not conducive to a mass vaccination effort, as it only works in Google Chrome, lacks an easy-to-use mobile format and is inaccessible to older Americans less familiar with how to use digital systems.
It is unclear how many states are using VAMS, as a CDC spokesperson told MIT Technology Review this data has not been made publicly available yet. However, a Deloitte spokesperson told the outlet a “10 jurisdictions, three federal agencies and one hospital system” are current users.
The CDC acknowledges VAMS has malfunctions that need to be addressed, although the agency attributes some of the issues to user error.
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