News Room

Across the Midwest, the rollout of COVID vaccines has been spotty. Lots of people are having a trouble with online signups. And vaccine demand far exceeds supply. That’s made the process challenging, especially in rural areas. For years, the Girls State Training School in central Iowa has sat mostly empty. But on this day, the main building is buzzing as a local vaccination clinic opens. Rooms labeled for social workers, psychologists and others who once helped delinquent girls are filled with health care workers and elderly residents from the rural area.

College sports venues are providing large, accessible centers to facilitate the final step in the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain. Communities will finally receive their vaccinations in stadiums like Michigan’s Big House and Missouri’s Memorial Stadium. “It’s the last mile which is really critical,” Illinois computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson told FOS. “We need large venues, and there are not that many large venues available.”

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been a nightmare for many Americans as they struggle through multi-step registration and appointment systems. The federal government had envisioned states using one national vaccine scheduling system, and it offered a contractor $44 million to develop it. But that system turned out to be so poorly designed that all but nine states opted out before even trying to adopt it.

Looking for the coronavirus vaccine? By spring or summer you could be headed to a sports stadium to get in line with thousands of other people. Ohio may be on track to join other states in creating mega vaccination sites that can handle people in huge numbers. Already New York City opened a site at Yankee Stadium and packed in people to line up for the vaccine. Logistics expert Prof. Christopher Tang of the UCLA Anderson School of Management said the mass distribution sites for the vaccine can be effective, but pose many problems.