News Room

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.

Lawmakers, experts and residents continued to criticize Massachusetts' vaccination rollout, Thursday, calling on the Baker administration to fix what they call a cumbersome and confusing sign-up process. On Thursday, state Sen. Eric Lesser filed legislation that would direct the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to immediately create a one-stop online sign-up for vaccinations accessible from desktop computer as well as mobile devices; as well as a phone hotline immediately be established in multiple languages. “The Phase 2 vaccine rollout is creating mass confusion and anxiety for our eligible senior population," Lesser said. "The system is cumbersome, contradictory, and asks residents over 75 to navigate a haze of web links, locations, and instructions, each with different criteria and scheduling systems."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed COVID-19 vaccine restrictions and the vaccine supply is growing, yet some areas are begging for more vaccines to meet demand. The Biden administration is offering hope, but bottlenecks persist throughout the vaccine supply chain. Are they at the vaccine manufacturers, in the distribution system in getting vaccines to the states or the last mile of getting them into people’s arms? The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck program uses risk-based analytics to enable millions of people to receive expedited airport security screening in exchange for identity verification, including a background check.

25 Investigates has reported for weeks that many states are outpacing Massachusetts in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. And, we continue to ask why. Massachusetts health officials have frequently blamed the federal government, under the Trump administration, for the slow and bumpy rollout of the vaccines here in the Commonwealth. On Monday, Governor Charlie Baker defended the Massachusetts rollout plan, saying the Commonwealth’s plan was designed to protect vulnerable communities, including people in nursing homes and areas disproportionately affected. He says other states did not prioritize those groups, which he says require a lot of outreach.

Of the many things that COVID-19 has made abundantly clear to us, surely one of them is a newfound realization that public health has become increasingly complex. Understanding the challenges to public health – that is, the task of guarding the well-being of the U.S. population – is essential now more than ever. As an engineer, design futurist and graduate program director, I have seen how COVID-19 has transformed how public health preparedness is viewed and understood. Some say the pandemic has delivered an urgency for a reimagining of public health.