Nearly a month after the U.S. vaccination campaigns launched to give COVID-19 shots to more than a million people a day, their second doses are due, leaving the state’s efforts behind and some without complete vaccinations.
In Texas alone, nearly 6,000 people were in arrears for their second shots in early February. Washington State officials said earlier this week that some massive vaccination clinics would only provide follow-up doses. And a Michigan hospital system canceled the last dose of appointments last week after its supply was reduced.
“All I have on hand is enough to get me through today and tomorrow,” Carolyn Wilson, chief operating officer of the Beaumont Health System in Michigan, said in an interview earlier this week.
U.S. health officials warned last year that two-shot governments would increase the difficulty of COVID-19 vaccinations, and initially withheld second doses to make sure they would be available as recommended three to four weeks after the first. As President Joe Biden accelerates purchasing and distribution in an effort to gain protection for nearly all Americans by the end of the summer, critical weaknesses in the system are beginning to emerge.
“For the first six weeks of this program or so, we only shot the first time, and now we have to pay the piper,” said Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Timing of the doses is seen as an important factor in effective vaccination. Moderna Inc. says shots should be given four weeks apart to ensure effectiveness, while the partnership of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE recommended a three-week break. A working group of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers is considering recommendations to extend the interval, Bloomberg News reported, although it is not yet clear what effect this could have on protection.
Only a small percentage of people vaccinated did not receive their second dose within six weeks of the first dose, and most received it within the recommended interval of three or four weeks, the CDC said in an email. said. The agency did not want to share more detailed numbers.
Meanwhile, more data is emerging that support a delay between doses. AstraZeneca Plc, whose vaccine has not been cleaned in the US, says the shots work best when administered 12 weeks apart. Israeli researchers have found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides 85% protection against symptoms after just one dose. Pfizer does not think one dose will work, CEO Albert Bourla said Friday in a Michigan factory where he appeared with Biden, although the company is investigating the issue.
About 41 million people nationwide received at least one shot and about 40% of them – 16 million – received two. About 1.6 million shots are fired every day, according to Bloomberg’s vaccination detection. Each state has different criteria for who should be vaccinated first, but together 202 million Americans fit into priority groups – people over the age of 65, essential workers and adults with high-risk medical conditions.
State-by-state data indicates a series of successes in fully immunizing people. More than half of those vaccinated in West Virginia have completed the series, but a third or less in California and Illinois, according to a Bloomberg analysis of CDC data. These rates can be affected by how fast doses are administered and that there is a failure to report.
People who need second doses compete for scarce supply, with millions of others trying to get their first. States increased suitability and opened immunization clinics at sports arenas and retail pharmacies. Although a large increase in shots is expected soon, the total weekly supply has only increased moderately.
Houston’s problems began even before Texas was hit by a crippling storm: the Department of Health had just begun administering the second dose in early February, director Stephen L. Williams said in an interview earlier this month. The city does not yet have the technology to discuss follow-up appointments when people get their first chance, but Williams said he hopes an upgrade in the coming weeks will change that.
Williams said the city sends text messages and emails with links to register, but he does not realize everyone will use them. “Our call center has been cut down,” he said, with a list of 70,000 people to be called to book appointments.
Beaumont, an eight-hospital health system, urged Michigan health officials to administer most of the stock without owning reserves, Wilson, the chief operating officer, said, but supplements did not arrive in time for a second dose. to give. Beaumont and Michigan’s health department both say they are celebrating the difference between the state grant and what the hospital expected.
When vaccines were first available in December, federal officials withheld a second-dose reserve. In January, the Trump and Biden governments urged to accelerate the campaign by shipping most of the offer once it becomes available. But states take different approaches to using second doses: some automatically assign second doses, while others ask providers to order them.
“Each jurisdiction approaches it differently,” said Jessica Daley, vice president of strategic supplier engagement at Premier Inc., which provides procurement and other services to more than 4,000 hospitals.
Pennsylvania health officials said this week that some providers accidentally gave some shots intended as boosters for the first doses. Hospitals have followed the instructions of officials to use available supplies, relying on the state’s promise that second doses would be available if needed, the Pennsylvania Hospital Association said. The mixture may lead to delays in follow-up surveys, but not longer than the six weeks recommended by the CDC.
For people trying to get their second doses, the search may be thwarted by the same technological hurdles and logistical attacks that made the initial rollout bumpy.
Wayne Sadin received his first dose of Moderna vaccine at the Bayou City Event Center in Houston on January 68, his 68th birthday. Health workers said they would make contact over a follow-up appointment.
“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Sadin said.
Four weeks later, the IT consultant did not hear it and could not reach the health department. His doctor’s office said he had to return to the center for his second shot. Finally, he tweeted to the health department that he was on guard with his call center. He got a slit on a Saturday afternoon, 30 days after his initial dose.
“I do not know why they do not communicate better,” he said.