Vaccine Distribution SNAFU – Blame it on the Algorithm or “It Looked Good on Paper”

Residents are the lowest-ranking doctors in a hospital. Stanford Medicine has about 1,300 across all disciplines. Only seven made the priority vaccination list, despite the fact that this week, residents were asked to volunteer for ICU coverage in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Residents are patient-facing, we’re the ones who have been asked to intubate, yet some attendings who have been face-timing us from home are being vaccinated before us,” said Dr. Sarah Johnson, a third-year OB-GYN resident who has delivered babies from COVID-positive patients during the pandemic. “This is the final straw to say, ‘We don’t actually care about you.’”

Only Seven of Stanford’s First 5,000 Vaccines Were Designated for Medical Residents – https://www.propublica.org/article/only-seven-of-stanfords-first-5-000-vaccines-were-designated-for-medical-residents

Stanford Medicine demonstrates how much they care about their residents.

Here’s an interesting breakdown of lessons learned.

In its earliest attempts at explaining the problem, Stanford’s administrators laid blame with the algorithm. Despite best intentions, they explained, the algorithm had made a mistake that the humans had to answer for.

This is a bit like blaming the hammer for missing the nail.

3 lessons from Stanford’s Covid-19 vaccine algorithm debacle — https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/21/stanford-covid19-vaccine-algorithm/

Operation Warp Speed also experienced some hiccups.

“It looked very good on paper,” Perna said. “Paper plans are very good. Execution is where we learn, and we adapted accordingly.”

‘I failed’: Operation Warp Speed leader takes responsibility for Covid-19 vaccine distribution confusion — https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/19/operation-warp-speed-leader-takes-sole-responsibility-for-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-confusion/?utm_campaign=rss

Remember “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”

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