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Golden Ticket Idea
Abbey S. ’24 answered the Belldegrun Center for Innovative Leadership’s call to identify a challenge related to the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and present a solution. Her pitch, and the ideas of other winning students, were so impressive that former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald shared them with the federal government’s COVID-19 response team.
When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began earlier this year, I heard my parents and their friends venting about the hours they spent trying to find appointments for elderly relatives. Our local health department’s signup system had crashed, leaving many with “phantom appointments” and others unable to access the website at all. This personal connection, combined with frequent news articles about scheduling problems, got me thinking about the scheduling process.
Around this time, Dean of Student Life Ms. Clark circulated information about a challenge sponsored by the Belldegrun Center for Innovative Leadership related to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccinations. This seemed like a great opportunity for me to ponder a solution to the scheduling bottlenecks that threatened to undermine the critical, time-sensitive goal of vaccinating millions of Americans. Ultimately, I proposed that the federal government repurpose the technology of Ticketmaster and StubHub, which matches a person with a seat in a particular venue, to match a person with a dose of vaccine in a particular venue.
Because these booking systems already exist, no time would be wasted creating new programs. Moreover, because of shutdown orders across the world, these companies were temporarily idle—there wasn’t much need for Taylor Swift concert tickets or seats to the World Series. The fact that these companies operate internationally meant that their systems were accessible in multiple languages. This partnership would also buy the companies some much needed goodwill. One flaw in my plan was that it didn’t directly address scheduling issues for those without internet access. However, by relieving local health departments of the burden of managing large numbers of appointments, my solution would allow these agencies to focus on staffing clinics and engaging in outreach to underserved and vaccine-hesitant communities.
I was fortunate to be named a winner of the BCIL Impact Challenge and along with the other winners, had the opportunity to meet with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald, who served under President Obama, was a member of President-Elect Biden’s transition team, and was the former CEO of Procter & Gamble. Secretary McDonald had reviewed the winning entries and asked follow-up questions over Zoom. It was fascinating to hear from someone who had been actively working to address the pandemic and vaccine distribution. I was especially excited to hear that Secretary McDonald was so impressed with the quality and creativity of the winning entries that he forwarded them to the top person leading the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force.
Because I am passionate about politics, this was an incredible experience for me. It revealed the importance of collaborating with others and listening to their ideas and suggestions. It highlighted the need to act quickly to address problems—the scheduling issues that loomed so large in February have disappeared and the new challenge we face is vaccine hesitancy. It also emphasized the importance of planning. With other pandemics likely to arise in the future, our government needs to be proactive in developing plans for a robust response instead of improvising in the midst of a crisis.
Written by Abbey S. '24. this story originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of NCS Magazine.
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When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began earlier this year, I heard my parents and their friends venting about the hours they spent trying to find appointments for elderly relatives. Our local health department’s signup system had crashed, leaving many with “phantom appointments” and others unable to access the website at all. This personal connection, combined with frequent news articles about scheduling problems, got me thinking about the scheduling process.
Around this time, Dean of Student Life Ms. Clark circulated information about a challenge sponsored by the Belldegrun Center for Innovative Leadership related to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccinations. This seemed like a great opportunity for me to ponder a solution to the scheduling bottlenecks that threatened to undermine the critical, time-sensitive goal of vaccinating millions of Americans. Ultimately, I proposed that the federal government repurpose the technology of Ticketmaster and StubHub, which matches a person with a seat in a particular venue, to match a person with a dose of vaccine in a particular venue.
Because these booking systems already exist, no time would be wasted creating new programs. Moreover, because of shutdown orders across the world, these companies were temporarily idle—there wasn’t much need for Taylor Swift concert tickets or seats to the World Series. The fact that these companies operate internationally meant that their systems were accessible in multiple languages. This partnership would also buy the companies some much needed goodwill. One flaw in my plan was that it didn’t directly address scheduling issues for those without internet access. However, by relieving local health departments of the burden of managing large numbers of appointments, my solution would allow these agencies to focus on staffing clinics and engaging in outreach to underserved and vaccine-hesitant communities.
I was fortunate to be named a winner of the BCIL Impact Challenge and along with the other winners, had the opportunity to meet with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald, who served under President Obama, was a member of President-Elect Biden’s transition team, and was the former CEO of Procter & Gamble. Secretary McDonald had reviewed the winning entries and asked follow-up questions over Zoom. It was fascinating to hear from someone who had been actively working to address the pandemic and vaccine distribution. I was especially excited to hear that Secretary McDonald was so impressed with the quality and creativity of the winning entries that he forwarded them to the top person leading the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force.
Because I am passionate about politics, this was an incredible experience for me. It revealed the importance of collaborating with others and listening to their ideas and suggestions. It highlighted the need to act quickly to address problems—the scheduling issues that loomed so large in February have disappeared and the new challenge we face is vaccine hesitancy. It also emphasized the importance of planning. With other pandemics likely to arise in the future, our government needs to be proactive in developing plans for a robust response instead of improvising in the midst of a crisis.
Written by Abbey S. '24. this story originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of NCS Magazine.
