[FRIAM] My View: "What's in your COVID-19 vaccination number?"

[Tom Johnson]

https://bit.ly/3bxcMRA
MY VIEW TOM JOHNSON
What's in your COVID-19 vaccination number?

   - By Tom Johnson
   - 13 hrs ago
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   <https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/whats-in-your-covid-19-vaccination-number/article_f7f293da-71a2-11eb-87aa-db921a1c81bb.html#comments>


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Surely you too have heard many anecdotes of New Mexicans over 70 or 75, and
maybe younger, who have driven to Amarillo or southern Colorado in pursuit
of COVID-19 vaccinations.

We don’t know how many of those vaccine tourists registered early on at the
New Mexico Department of Health site, cvaccine.nmhealth.org, to get a magic
code number apparently used to get in the queue for a shot or shots. We
also don’t know what that seven-digit number means.

You probably have a Social Security number. The three groups in that number
each have separate definitions. For example, the first three digits reflect
the state in which the individual first applied for a Social Security card.
But who can tell us the definition of the COVID-19 registration?

Can anyone please tell us if that is simply a randomly generated number or
if any single digit or combination of digits represents a specific piece of
information being used by the health department? For example, do the first
two digits mean an individual is in category 1A or 1B, etc. Do other digits
indicate any other metadata relevant to the individual?

Second, we might assume the digits are being used as some sort of index
number in the statewide data set. Hence, it falls somewhere in a queue for
scheduled vaccinations. If so, why isn’t it being used to tell individuals
(a) how many peers are in a particular class (assuming a random
distribution of our fellows for vaccination) awaiting vaccinations or (b)
where do we fall in the list, i.e. how many individuals in our class or
each class are ahead of us for vaccination(s)?

This is an example of a classic failure of government employees to think
that data like COVID-19 registration numbers belong to their specific
departments instead of the taxpayers who paid to have the registration
system set up. Especially in crisis cases like the pandemic, agency
planners must start thinking, initially, how to make the data — our data —
“public facing.”

That is, the planning and implementation must be done on parallel tracks:
Create a system that maximizes information for the public while also
meeting the needs of the agency’s goals and personnel. Yes, actual and
anticipated supply of the little glass vials is an issue. But if Kroger.com
<http://kroger.com/> in Colorado can administer a registration system that
is specific yet simple to use, shouldn’t our health department have similar
capabilities?

If you go to the state’s vaccination site, you should be easily and quickly
told if you need to gas up the car for a road trip east or north.

*Tom Johnson is the coordinator of It’s The People’s Data, Santa Fe.*
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