President Biden is under pressure to aim even higher with the goals of distributing vaccines from his administration, and experts note that his early pressure to deliver 100 million shots within 100 days does not differ dramatically from the current pace .
The new government trumpeted its vaccine goal as ‘ambitious’ and ‘fat’. But a vocal group of experts says Biden’s goal is actually less than necessary to tame the pandemic, especially with more infectious variants increasing.
“100 million shots means 50 million people,” Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine, told Scripps Research, as the two vaccines currently available require two doses. “It’s completely inadequate.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that a more contagious variant first found in the UK in March could be the dominant strain in the US. This makes faster vaccinations even more urgent.
“It’s really the urgency that people do not understand,” Topol said.
Biden officials have stressed that they will not stop vaccinations if they reach the target before the 100 days, so it is possible that the target will eventually be exceeded. However, experts believe that the goal is still important and that the prevailing focus should be on the delivery of vaccines 24/7.
In part, the new government is trying to set expectations that the pandemic will not turn around right away and is trying to portray the Trump administration as having little to do with the vaccination effort.
“What we inherit is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff Zients
Jeff ZientsBiden under pressure to deliver more COVID-19 shots Fauci: We are not starting from scratch about the distribution of vaccines. These are the executive orders that Biden signed in the first three days in office MORE, Response Coordinator of Biden’s coronavirus, said on Wednesday in a call with reporters.
Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciOvernight Health Care – Fauci: lack of facts likely to cost lives in coronavirus battle | CDC changes COVID-19 vaccine line to barely mix Pfizer, Moderna shots | Senate chaos threatens to delay Biden’s agenda Fauci furious over threats to family Poll: Multiple voters say coronavirus vaccine will be delayed longer than expected MORE, the government’s top expert on infectious diseases, told reporters on Thursday that the new government “which” strengthens the Trump administration through a more active federal role, but “we are certainly not starting from scratch.”
The Trump administration has criticized experts for giving states too much responsibility for the ‘last mile’ of firearms without enough federal support and for not providing clear enough information on how much vaccine each state would receive and when .
Despite initial problems with implementation, however, the rate of vaccinations in the US has already climbed to near the target of the Biden set of 1 million shots per day, even before his government took over. According to data compiled by Our World in Data, on January 19, the United States averaged 911,000 shots per day, but only shy of Biden’s desired point.
“Do not let the media and democratic politicians turn it around,” Rep. Steve Scalise
Stephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseBiden’s inauguration marked by conflict of hope and fear Scalise brings Donna Brazile as guest at the Biden inauguration GOP legislator: Trump ‘endangers our whole lives’ MORE (La.), The Republican Whip of the House, tweeted on Thursday. “Biden’s vaccination plan is Trump’s vaccination plan. The United States was already on track for 100 million doses in 100 days. ‘
Paul Offit, a vaccination expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the U.S. needs about 250 million people to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, if enough of the population is immune that the spread of the virus will dramatically decrease.
“For a two-dose vaccine, it’s 500 million doses, so if you’re talking about giving a million doses a day, we’re probably better off with about 3 million doses a day if we can get there,” he said. . ‘A million doses a day is not enough to get there fast. ‘
Biden went on the defensive on Thursday when asked by a reporter if 100 million shots within 100 days is enough, as the US is already almost on track to achieve the goal.
“When I announced it, you all said it’s not possible,” Biden said. ‘Come on. Give me a break, man. This is a good start, 100 million. ”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiBiden under pressure to deliver more COVID-19 shots Biden, Trudeau agrees to meet next month Democrats seek answers over the impact of the Russian cyber attack on the Justice Department, courts MORE Friday said there is always room to exceed the target, but noted that there are a range of headwinds, including reluctance to vaccine and supply problems.
“If we surpass it, it’s great,” she said. “We will also continue to work after day 100.”
The Biden government is taking a number of steps to increase federal support for the vaccination effort, regardless of the stated goal. Biden has signed an order to use the Defense Production Act more fully to require businesses to increase vaccine production.
One focus area is increasing the supply of special syringes that can extract an extra dose of vaccine in some vials, thus increasing the number of available doses.
The administration also plans to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up federal vaccination sites, with the goal of creating 100 sites in the first month.
There are also questions about how many doses of vaccine are available. Pfizer and Moderna are committed to having 100 million doses for the US by the end of March – twice as much as needed to achieve Biden’s goal – although it is possible that manufacturing problems could reduce the numbers.
Officials hope a third Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved in the coming weeks, which will provide additional supplies.
But Biden administration officials said they were still trying to deal with the supply situation and that they did not have exact forecasts from manufacturers.
The new government also wants to improve communication with state leaders, who complain that the Trump team did not give them enough information about their awards ahead of time to plan properly.
The clock is ticking, says Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, given the spread of more infectious variants.
“They emphasize the real need to accelerate implementation as much as possible,” he said. “Because to some extent it’s a race between a more contagious virus and our ability to protect people.”