Intrigued after learning that the Boston Marathon race director had been hired to run mass vaccination sites at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park, AP’s New England editor Bill Kole wondered what other unconventional logistics experts were being tapped to fight the pandemic. That led to a widely played national story about a phenomenon no other news outlet had noticed.
Kole’s reporting yielded some surprises: Fast food managers, concert promoters and even wedding planners were being sought and pressed into service to help with testing and vaccinations. His story was tweeted and retweeted several thousand times and played prominently across the U.S.
Dave McGillivray, race director of the Boston Marathon, oversees a COVID-19 vaccine injection site in a concession area at Boston’s Fenway Park, Jan. 28, 2021.
AP Photo / Charles Krupa