themightychris t1_j23x7vh wrote on December 29, 2022 at 2:05 PM

Reply to comment by uptown_gargoyle in Philly Fighting COVID founder sues Drexel University for expelling him after vaccine scandal by Dryheavemorning

thanks, I recall the data terms bit. They didn't even have any sensitive medical data though they were just handing appointment setting and coordinating volunteers/venues though right?

people love dunking on this kid, and I get it it's fun, but the whole ordeal stunk to be at the time as lots of smoke and no fire and felt really self destructive for us as a city, esp once it rose to throwing our health officials under the bus

There was a lot of "why didn't this contract go to one of our big medical institutions?" but the project as far as I could tell was mostly about organizing volunteers and setting up appointment booking logistics quickly. The appointment booking systems all the big players set up were fkkkiinnngg teerrriiibbllee

uptown_gargoyle t1_j23yy1n wrote on December 29, 2022 at 2:19 PM

>They didn't even have any sensitive medical data though they were just handing appointment setting and coordinating volunteers/venues though right?

My recollection is that there were also questions about pre-existing health conditions that helped determine which patients qualified for which vaccine roll-out tiers.

My personal opinion is that it was a very scary time for everybody, and a lot of people hung a lot of hopes on the vaccines and, subsequently, on departments of public health to distribute them. This kid was absolutely a terrible choice to handle large scale vaccine distribution in Philadelphia, and heads definitely should have rolled at the Philly health department for it. Doroshin himself also put off extreme dumb-but-successful-frat-guy vibes, which made him super easy to dunk on. I guess I don't have an opinion as to whether dunking on Doroshin was bad for the city.

Was the amount of ridicule he received merited by his actual wrongdoing? I tend to doubt it. And, on the other side of the coin, I think Farley got off easy. But if there ever was a time for a person to say to himself, "Wow, this is actually a really important task, and maybe I just don't have the experience to do it effectively, even if I do have a plan to get rich off of it," then this was it.

ETA: WHYY also pushed a racial bias angle, because the people that got ghosted at testing events were mostly people of color, because the impact of the virus had a racial disparity, and because Doroshin was white and a more qualified black doctor was passed over for the contract. And I think when a story is framed as evil white guy victimizing disenfranchised people of color, it tends to cause the conversation to be more heated than it might have been otherwise. Plus there was a nationwide conversation about institutional racism that was unfolding at the same time. The whole thing struck a chord that resonated with a lot of people.