U.S. COVID-19 vaccine rollout analysis hampered by gaps in state data reporting and technology

U.S. COVID-19 vaccine rollout analysis hampered by technology, state data reporting When a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine leaves a U.S. manufacturing plant, its path can be traced all the way to the hospital or clinic representative signing for the shipment at its destination. What happens next is not always clear. Tina Bellon, Rebecca Spalding U.S.

(Reuters) - When a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine leaves a U.S. manufacturing plant, its path can be traced all the way to the hospital or clinic representative signing for the shipment at its destination. What happens next is not always clear.

Federal agencies overseeing the rollout are relying on a tangled web of aging state vaccine registries complicated by state laws and practices.

Data collection has improved since the national vaccination campaign began in December, with county-level reporting in most states. But gaps and tech issues remain that could compromise equitable distribution of doses, analysis of vaccine protection, and identification of pockets of vaccine hesitancy, experts said.

It is a monumental task as the national vaccination campaign gathers steam with an average of 2.4 million shots going into arms each day and rising, and some 196 million doses distributed since December.

As the vaccine rollout opens to all American adults, analysts will be watching whether the less advantaged lose out.

“Are we achieving our equity goals?” said Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University. “That would be very hard to tease out at a federal level, given the variation in how states are reporting.”

The uncoordinated nature of data collection in Marin County, California, across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco, “makes it virtually impossible for me to have that global view that I need to be able to see who is getting vaccinated and who isn’t,” said Dr. Matt Willis, county public health officer.

The U.S. vaccine data system has two main parts: recently developed federal software from Palantir Technologies Inc that closely tracks distribution of doses, and a range of systems used by states that report into decade-old federal systems developed for limited tracking of child vaccinations.

“We know where every single dose was delivered; we know when it was delivered; we know who ordered it; we know who signed for it; we know who dropped it off at the location,” said one person involved in tracking vaccine distribution. “Where we lose sight of it is when (the providers) take it.” ...