President Biden is also calling for faster vaccinations – a case he is expected to make on Friday when he travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to visit the manufacturing facility of Pfizer, one of the two manufacturers of federally authorized vaccine.
Federal officials estimate that as many as six million doses of vaccine are still being stored away unnecessarily. If you release it, the doses used by more than ten percent can be increased, which will significantly increase the rate of the country’s vaccination program, at a time when speed is essential to save lives, fight disease and to prevent more infectious variants of the virus. To date, 56 million shots have been fired, and only 12 percent of Americans have received one or more doses.
The idea that doses sit in cold rooms while millions of people languish on waiting lists has frustrated government officials. The roots of the problem are twofold.
First, when the federal vaccination program for long-term care facilities began late last year, the CDC made allocations based on the number of beds, even though the occupancy rates are the lowest in years. According to the American Healthcare Association, a trade group, only 68 percent of beds for nursing homes and 78 percent of beds are now filled.
Then the CDC doubled the award to staff members. But while four-fifths of long-term caregivers agreed to be vaccinated in the first month of the program, 63 percent of staff refused, the agency reported. More have agreed in the meantime, though it is not clear exactly how much more.
Despite the lack of admission, the pharmacy chains that administer the program still typed their lots from the federal government. Dr. Avula said at one point in Virginia that they used less than one in every three doses.
As ‘good, corporate, risk-averse companies,’ said Clark Mercer, chief of staff Ralph Northam of Virginia, “if they can pull off, they’re going to slow down.”