Drowning in paperwork

I got this via Marginal Revolution.

“A vaccination center with 4 vaccination stations requiring 58 staff (only 16 of which seem to need medical training to prepare and administer vaccines and 1 EMT on hand for adverse reactions.

…

What boggles my mind is the number of staff they have allocated for paperwork.

…

If the US had been prepared, it could’ve set up a system of vaccination tickets with QR codes (much like tickets for air travel or going to a sporting event) that could be handed out by primary care physicians, hospitals, etc. (or just based on administrative records of age). Those would transfer the relevant data that would have been collected by the paperwork people. People would schedule a slot via some app (even doctors’ offices have online scheduling now), show up, provide ID verification, and get the shot. So you could open up a vaccination center with less staff. I get that not everyone has a smartphone, but seriously, this is not that hard.“

Governments are very bad at managing and launching digital products. To curb corruption and sweetheart deals, most have designed procurement processes that are so overprescribed it’s effectively impossible for them to select good vendors quickly.

It’s them impossible for them to manage rapid, iterative deployments as a competent startup might, as that process is burdened by countless political, bureaucratic, and regulatory obstacles.

When the stakes are high enough, like during a deadly pandemic, you’d hope that new approaches might be explored. It’s not at all obvious to me that any have been.