Surgeon General dr. Jerome Adams says lack of state and local funds may be one reason why millions of COVID-19 vaccines distributed to countries across the country should not yet be given to patients.
Just under 3 million people received the vaccine, although the Trump administration has promised to administer 20 million by the end of December.
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Adams nevertheless said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the federal government is “on course” to have 20 million doses of the vaccine on the ground by the end of next week, a tempering of President Trump’s initial goal.
The federal government has tried to shift the blame to the states, with Trump tweeting on Wednesday for government officials to “get going” to hand out shots to first-priority candidates, such as health workers and elderly patients in nursing homes.
“Vaccines are made, vaccines are given, vaccines are given, and then there are vaccines that are placed in the arms,” Adams said.
“I used to run a state health department. People forget that we have always underfunded public health for decades. And so chronically we need to continue to better fund state and local public health,” he added.
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However, governors in several states have complained that federal funding does not exist, creating a larger gap between the number of vaccinations available and the number of people receiving them.
The federal government has been shattered for confusion over the deployment of the vaccine, with President-elect Joe Biden calling Trump’s efforts to spread vaccinations in time as “behind, far behind.”
Biden said he had instructed his team “to prepare for a much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things going” as soon as he takes office on January 20th.
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“We will find ways to increase the rate of vaccinations,” he said, reiterating a goal to ensure 100 million shots are fired at the end of the first 100 days.