A How-To Guide for COVID-19 Vaccine Providers

By Niffer Nan and Diana Wang

We’re all hopeful: a miracle of science has just happened. Against the odds, several COVID-19 vaccines have been developed in record time (less than a year, versus the typical time of up to 10–15 years), and at incredibly high efficacy (90–95 percent effectiveness).

Now, healthcare and government officials are focused on distributing and administering the vaccine across hundreds of millions of residents in the U.S. This, too, is going to take a miracle. But, miracles don’t happen overnight. They’re the product of millions of hours of ingenuity, collaboration, and hard work.

Assistance for Vaccine Providers

For several months, U.S. Digital Response has partnered with government officials across the country to help prepare for vaccine distribution. Knowing this vaccination rollout would be historically challenging and important, our partners are committed to making it happen safely, rapidly, and fairly. As we spoke with government vaccine providers, we saw a common set of challenges — and also an encouraging set of likely solutions.

To share these learnings, USDR recently published a vaccine provider guide that can help government teams continue making smart decisions, faster. The information in the guide distills what we’ve learned and the trends we’ve seen through 1) working with multiple vaccine providers across the country, 2) evaluating major tech vendors in the vaccination ecosystem, and 3) our collective decades of experience in the tech industry directly building and evaluating tech tools ourselves.

COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Guide

This guide provides a framework for vaccination rollout and tips for evaluating tech tools, with the goal of helping…

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Specifically, the vaccine provider guide includes:

• A framework for successfully rolling out vaccines, including key focus areas
• Tips for assessing tech tools and vendors, including detailed questions to ask and factors to consider
• Concrete vendor recommendations (coming soon)

What makes this guide different?

• Agencies and associations like the CDC, CTSE, ASTHO, NACCHO, and APHL are sharing strong guidance on what to do. But relatively few organizations are sharing guidance on how to do it. Our approach is to give vaccine providers concrete tips on what to do so they can execute their jobs more quickly and effectively.
• A common theme we’ve heard from vaccine providers is they’re interested in what other providers are doing. Since we’ve partnered with several government providers across the country, our guide is a way to quickly learn the tips and pitfalls that other government providers have experienced.

This guide is intended to support vaccination planners and providers, and we ask that you help share it with all who may find the information useful. Also, sign up here to get periodic email updates on new information we’ve learned. Beyond this free resource, USDR is available to provide pro-bono support to help plan for vaccinations and address other COVID-related challenges. Governments in need of assistance can fill out this brief form to connect with USDR, and we’ll get back to them within hours.

And, if you’re a vaccine provider yourself, thank you. We hope this guide can make it a bit easier for you to perform your miracles.