Biden should release the coronavirus vaccine stock and not set aside half

• Elected President Joe Biden plans to release all available doses for the coronavirus vaccine when he takes office on January 20, CNN reports.
• The Trump administration currently holds back half of the stock to guarantee there are enough for two shots per person.
• But some public health experts say the U.S. could be more generous with the current supply, as vaccine production is unlikely to come to a halt.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

U.S. officials faced a difficult choice when vaccination began: they could immediately get as many doses in their arms as possible, or hold back enough to make sure everyone who got a first shot, their second would be guaranteed.

The Trump administration opted for the latter approach. So far, federal officials have not shipped about half of the available vaccine supply.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccine are not effective unless someone is given two doses. The Moderna shots should ideally be 28 days apart, while Pfizer’s should be 21. The U.S. is still producing more doses of both, but so far federal officials have kept a substantial reserve in an emergency, such as a breakdown point at a factory. this will cause production to come to a standstill.

However, some public health experts think that the chances of a disaster are low and say that the US does not have to be so careful with the current supply.

So the president, Joe Biden, prefers to release all available vaccine doses when he takes office on January 20, CNN reported Friday.

“The president-elect believes we need to accelerate the spread of the vaccine while continuing to ensure that the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible,” said TJ Ducklo, a spokesman for Biden’s transition. told CNN. “He supports the immediate release of available doses, and believes the government should stop halting the supply of vaccines so that we can now get more shots into Americans’ arms.”

However, the strategy may hit the same barriers as the current distribution process. State health departments are simultaneously struggling with a tsunami of coronavirus patients while overseeing a giant vaccination. Many health departments do not have the staff to administer shots in large groups, so the arrival of even more doses can be an added challenge.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, as of Thursday, the U.S. has not administered 15.5 million of the 21.4 million doses distributed so far.

“At present, the proposal for changes to the FDA-authorized dosage or schedules of these vaccines is premature and is not firmly rooted in the available evidence,” said Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner, and dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s center for biologics. Evaluation and research, CNN said in a statement. “Without appropriate data supporting such changes in vaccine administration, we run a significant risk of endangering public health, undermining the historic vaccination efforts to protect the population against COVID-19.”

The benefits of a riskier strategy

Octavio Jones / Getty Images

In the UK, officials have decided to postpone the second doses to 12 weeks to administer as many first doses as possible. The BBC aims to release 2 million shots a week by the end of January, reports the BBC. So far, only 1.5 million people in the UK have been vaccinated.

Biden’s strategy is different. He does not intend to extend the window between the two doses. Instead, he assumes that manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies will continually deliver more doses according to their contracts.

“In contrast, federal officials and members of an FDA advisory committee are currently planning a scenario where we could not produce a single dose of vaccine for months,” he said. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, told Business Insider.

“It could not possibly be our scenario we are planning for,” he said. “We need to think through and get more doses.”

Read more: What comes next for COVID-19 vaccines? Here’s the latest on 11 leading programs.

Last month, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNN that the company was on track to deliver 100 million doses to the US in the first quarter of 2021. By the end of July, the company expects to have already bought 200 million doses.

Meanwhile, Moderna expects to deliver 85 to 100 million doses to the US in the first quarter of 2021, with the goal of delivering all 200 million purchased by the federal government by the end of June.

“We can make some hedges that say we need to keep a few doses, but assume that our production is not going to collapse completely for months and months,” Jha said.

Karen Ducey / Getty Images

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that distributing as many first doses as possible would help the U.S. prevent more natural infections. So far, the U.S. has vaccinated about 1.5 million people a week. But the study found that if the U.S. delivers 6 million doses a week over eight weeks and withholds only 10% of the doses for the first three of weeks, the country could reduce coronavirus cases by 29%.

“We find that among the most plausible scenarios, a more balanced approach that withholds fewer doses during early distribution to vaccinate more people as soon as possible can significantly increase the benefits of vaccinations, while most recipients can receive the second dose according to schedule. , “the researchers wrote.

Federal officials also hope Johnson & Johnson’s one – dose shot can be approved by the US next month. The company aims to produce 1 billion doses by 2021.

Hilary Brueck reported.