this is fine
Does anyone besides me have a problem with this?
Greetings MassCustomer™:
We are pleased to tell you that there is now a vaccine against COVID! (Who knew?) Everyone should get this now.
Due to unanticipated demand, please follow these steps to protect yourself and your fellow MassCustomers™.
- Obtain broadband internet access, T1 or better
- Visit Craigslist
- Purchase a machete
- Drive your motor vehicle to your nearest major-league football or baseball stadium (go Pats!).
- Use your machete to gain access to the vaccination area at the rear of the stadium opposite the entrance
Remember, vaccines require a second shot!
I know that Governor Fixit fixed something significant with healthcare once, not that I could tell you what that was, so I am sure all this must be kosher.
But there is still something about it that strikes me as a little odd.
Anyway, took me all day, but I got my machete. See you in Foxboro!
Please share widely!
After weeks of trying, my sister finally managed to get a slot at Gillette. The maddening thing was that each attempt required her to enter the same information, over and over again only to see a notice that there were no slots available
If Charlie Baker ran a restaurant the way he is running this vaccine rollout:
Charlie: Hello, Chez Charlie Restaurant.
Customer: Hello, I’d like to make dinner reservations for Tuesday at 6:30 PM.
Charlie: Yes of course, how many in your party?
Customer: Six.
Charlie: Would you prefer the main dining room or a private room?
Customer: Main dining please.
Charlie: Does anyone in your party have a food allergy we need to be aware of?
Customer: No.
Charlie: Are there any requirements for Kosher?
Customer: No.
Charlie: Are there any requirements for Vegan?
Customer: No.
Charlie: Are there any requirements for Low Sodium?
Customer: No
Charlie: Will this be cash or credit?
Customer: Credit.
Charlie: May I have your credit card number?
Customer: 2828-288-2922
Charlie: Date of Expiration?
Customer: 5/23
Charlie: Security Code please?
Customer: 585
Charlie: Cell phone number?
Customer: 555-478-12121
Charlie: I have sent a secure number to that phone, please repeat it to me.
Customer: 7489
Charlie: Very good, I have all your information but I am not able to seat your party on that day as we are completely booked for the week. Please call back Monday and try again.
By the time you do all that the handful of slots are full.
The obvious remedy would be (1) allow people to preregister with all the required info, then sign up with a single click when slots are available, or (2) sign up with single click with instructions to provide the info within a reasonable time frame afterwards (such as a day).
With (1) the state can do outreach based on status, e.g. age, comorbidities, as things open up.
News coverage has focused on this as some sort of arcane technical failure having to do with server configuration etc. It is actually a fundamental failure of planning and design.
Can someone tell me what Governor Fixit has ever fixed? It isn’t this.
Seems to be what West Virginia, which has been very successful with their vaccine distribution, has done:
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/we-crushed-it-how-did-west-virginia-become-national-leader-n1256276
Oh, and Everbridge, the company they partner with, is based in Burlington, MA.
Heh … here’s a transcript that describes what callers experienced on the first day:
CUSTOMER: (Dialing the number broadcast everywhere in the high-profile launch)
PHONE: dee-dee-dee-dee — We’re sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try again at another time
CUSTOMER: (Redialing)
PHONE: doodle-dee-doodle-dee — We’re sorry, the number you dialed is not in service
Governor Baker has learned a lesson that “Democrats” in the legislature have been demonstrating for a very long time: Pretty much ALL the political benefit of “addressing” some major crisis comes from the glowing news coverage of the announcement.
Making the program or process actually work is, well, irrelevant and unnecessary and certainly not worth raising taxes to make successful.
The state has been announcing various green energy subsidies and grants to consumers for years. How many of you have tried to actually get that money in your bank account? For many of them, the reality is that the application window was open only for a few days or weeks during which time there was nobody answering the phone, no way to leave a message, and nobody answering messages when a chink in the defense opened up.
Or applications were submitted and approved, and then tabled for at least a year because “the allocation for this year has already been spent”.
Service companies for boilers and air conditioners were recruited into programs to help their customers get these grants (because in many cases the grant goes directly to the contract that installs the new equipment) — and the applications from all of those end up on the same under-staffed office in some state-funded agency someplace.
Massachusetts has been downsizing government services and agencies for so long that there is literally nobody left who is able to even manage contracts like this, never mind actually build anything. When public transportation collapsed during this administration a few years ago (because of decades of underfunding), what was the state’s response? The handful of competent middle managers at the T were fired or bought out through early retirement. Managers don’t have unions and therefore don’t have contracts. Managers get paid more. So managers are first in line to get laid off — precisely when their institutional memory and expertise is most needed.
We’re seeing similar things play out in Texas. A striking image broadcast on MSNBC this week was a divided highway running along the Texas/Arkansas border, one direction in Texas and the other in Arkansas. The Arkansas side was clear and dry with vehicles moving freely. The Texas side was snow and ice covered with a handful of vehicles slipping and sliding every which way on the treacherous surface. Arkansas government keeps plows at the ready during winter. Texas government does not.
A key difference between Massachusetts and Texas is that Texas politicians don’t even bother to lie about government services — they just say “You’re on your own, our hopes and prayers are with you”.
Here in MA, our politicians tell us whatever happy talk they think will get them elected and then act like Texans.
Your last two sentences hit the mark, especially the last one. Not sure that we have a leg up on Texas.
Least our power grid is still working, we got that on Texas, but seriously, this vaccine rollout has been botched. My mother just turned 75 and we spent Wednesday morning trying to get her an appointment in our town. By the time we registered we got a call back that they were out of vaccines! This is for an appointment a week from now. Why not just order vaccines for every resident of every town and let local public health departments do it?
This is what Revere did for our police and fire, but they rolled back doing vaccines for teachers. Now the city is turning against the teachers union and we are gonna be forced to go back hybrid before we are all vaccinated.
There hasn’t been a poll in awhile, but I gotta believe Teflon Charlie takes a hit on this and can draw a serious challenger. We need leadership and he isn’t providing it.
Some of the more savvy politicians are blaming the Baker-Polito Administration, just in case he does not run and she wants to run on his coattails….
Reminds me of a great last line in a movie I recently watched;
Don’t make me laugh. I’m living in America. And in America, you’re on your own. America is not a country. It’s just a business. Now pay me.
I feel like that’s the Baker approach to vaccines.