News > Where Do Vaccine Doses Go, and Who Gets Them? The Algorithms Decide

Where Do Vaccine Doses Go, and Who Gets Them? The Algorithms Decide

The federal vaccine allocation formula is among the dozens of algorithms being used by government health agencies and hospital systems across the United States to help determine where the vaccines are sent and who can get them.

The algorithms are intended to speed Covid-19 shots from pharmaceutical plants to people’s arms. Yet federal agencies, states, local health departments and medical centres have each developed different allocation formulas, based on a variety of ethical and political considerations.