Vaccination of vaccines has so far not gone as planned, and has mainly resulted in resource shortages and staffing issues caused by the raging pandemic.
Why it matters: The Trump administration’s goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of the year has fallen sharply, raising concerns about how long it could take until enough people are vaccinated in the US to return to normal for life. .
By the numbers: 1.3% of the U.S. population was vaccinated and 33% of the shots distributed to states were administered according to a Bloomberg analysis of CDC data.
- Operation Warp Speed distributed 13 million doses, about 7 million doses less than the target. Approximately 4.3 million doses were administered.
The state of affairs: According to the New York Times, government officials cited several reasons why vaccinations were moving at a slower pace than expected.
- The increase in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths has overwhelmed healthcare facilities, hampering their ability to deliver vaccines.
- Many states have reserved the vaccine dosage for nursing homes and long-term care reserves, which slows distribution.
- The holiday also led to fewer hours and limited staff management in clinics.
Yes, but: Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he had seen “a glimmer of hope” after 1.5 million doses were administered in the previous 72 hours, a clear increase in the vaccination rate.
In view of this slow deployment, some experts just want to give preference to more gunshots – no matter what arms they are – as the pandemic worsens.
Send the news: The head of Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, said yesterday that the government was considering halving the dose of each shot of the Moderna vaccine to double the number of people who could get it, per NYT.
And some experts argues that second shots should be delayed.
- “It’s time to change the plan; we need to give people a single vaccination now and postpone their second survey until more doses of vaccination are available,” UCSF’s Robert Wachter and Ashish Jha told the Washington Post yesterday. heading written.
Texas Department of Health recently sent a letter to vaccine providers urging them to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible.
- “If in a given situation all the available and willing persons of 1A and 1B have been served, we urge you to turn around and provide vaccine to any additional available and willing persons, regardless of their priority,” he said. the commissioner wrote.
The conclusion: ” A vaccine that has been sitting on a shelf for weeks waiting for its perfect recipient is not helping to end the pandemic, ” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote in a WSJ headline.