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In January 2017, a lengthy proposal showed up at the offices of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in Washington. Running 112 pages, the document described a strategy for stopping future pandemics. It outlined a number of vaccine technologies to pursue, including messenger RNA and adenovirus vectors, and recommended that a team of 180 scientists, doctors, and other experts be created to carry out the plan. There were intricate technical details, an org chart, and an estimated cost: $595 million over 10 years.

Public health experts say the United States is lagging behind other countries in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Tinglong Dai- an associate professor at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, and an expert in health care analytics- has closely followed the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the United States. He says other countries are doing a better job of making the shots accessible to the public. “Americans are working too hard to get a vaccine,” Dai says. “Look at people in the UK and Israel...you basically don’t have to do anything to get a vaccine.” UK residents receive a letter telling them when they’re eligible for a vaccine and where to go to get it. Then, they simply book an appointment online.

When you share a campus with the world’s foremost coronavirus experts, it says a lot that you’re confident about returning to the classroom. Even as many parts of the United States continue to struggle in the fight against coronavirus, the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland last month resumed some in-person MBA classes. Between 30% and 40% of the Carey MBA class opted to come back to campus in person. And it’s going well — thanks to the preparations of a team of top minds, says Brian Gunia, associate dean for academic programs.

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are painfully aware that overcoming the scourge is a marathon, not a sprint. Enter Dave McGillivray, who knows a thing or two about endurance events — and logistics. The race director of the Boston Marathon, which is on hold until fall, has been tapped by the state of Massachusetts to run mass vaccination operations at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park. Idled at his day job by the pandemic, he's part of an emerging group of event organizers and other unconventional logistics experts who are using their skills to help the nation vaccinate as many people against COVID-19 as possible. "It's amazing how our event management skill set can be applied to running a massive vaccination site," said McGillivray, who has been directing the marathon — with its many moving parts — for more than three decades.

After receiving her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 19, Fran Abbott soon began to worry about the logistics of getting her second. The Southern Nevada Health District recently said that it would email those who got a first dose at one of its sites about scheduling a second dose. But Abbott said that when she received her first dose as a walk-in at Cashman Center in downtown Las Vegas, she wasn’t asked to provide an email address. How, then, could the district contact her? And what if a phone message to the district was not returned in time? “I am worried that I and those who went to Cashman as walk-ins might fall through the cracks,” Abbott, 74, said in an email Sunday, echoing the uncertainty of many older residents about the process for receiving their second doses.