FDA chief encourages states to open fire on more people

The head of the Food and Drug Administration said Friday he is urging states to start vaccinating lower-priority groups against Covid-19 as U.S. officials try to increase the pace after a slower-than-expected initial implementation.

FDA Commissioner, dr. Stephen Hahn, did not recommend that all Americans be vaccinated and told reporters that states should give shots to groups that ‘make sense’, such as the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, police, firefighters and other essential workers.

“We heard in the press that some people said, ‘OK, I’m waiting to get all my health workers vaccinated. We’re about 35% of the vaccine.’ “I think it’s reasonable to extend that to other groups,” Hahn said Friday morning during an event hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy. “I strongly encourage it to move forward and give states the opportunity to do more. to be extended to whom they can give the vaccine. “

Hahn stressed that the distribution of the vaccines should continue to be driven by ‘data and science’, adding that states ultimately know what is best for their communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given states an outline that recommends prioritizing health care workers and nursing homes, but states can distribute the vaccine as they see fit. But over the past few days, U.S. health officials have expressed concern that national leadership could slow the pace of vaccinations as states restrict access to shots for certain people.

More than 21.4 million doses of vaccine have been distributed in the US since Thursday, but just over 5.9 million doses have been administered, according to data compiled by the CDC. That number is far from the federal government’s goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020, and 50 million Americans by the end of this month.

Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar advised states not to “micromanage” their permitted vaccine dosage, saying it was better to get the shots out as quickly as possible.

“There is no reason for states to complete vaccinations, say the vaccination of all health care providers, before vaccinating for older Americans or other particularly vulnerable populations,” Azar told reporters in a newsletter on Wednesday.

“If they use all the vaccine that is distributed, ordered, distributed, shipped and they get it in the healthcare providers, it’s a wonderful thing,” he added. “But if their distribution is struggling for some reason and their vaccination is put in freezers, then you should definitely open it up to people 70 years and older.”

Global health experts have said that the distribution of the vaccines to 331 million Americans could be much more complicated and chaotic than initially thought. The logistics of obtaining and administering the vaccine are complex, requiring special training. Pfizer’s vaccine, for example, requires a storage temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a press call Thursday, state health officials said they were administering the vaccine as soon as possible, but the lack of funding and lack of communication from the federal government slowed it down.

They said they expected the vaccinations to increase once the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved. The J&J vaccine requires only one shot, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, about three to four weeks apart.

U.S. officials acknowledged that the distribution of vaccines was slower than they had hoped. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told STAT News on Tuesday that she expects vaccination vaccinations to accelerate “fairly massively” in the coming weeks.

“These are the early stages of a very complex task, but a task we are ready for,” she told STAT.