President Joe Biden, who is responding to growing frustration over vaccine shortages, announced today that in the next three weeks the US will increase deliveries to countries in heavy pressure and expects to reach 300 million by the end of summer or early autumn Americans need to be vaccinated.
Biden, who called the pressure “wartime”, said the government was working to buy another 100 million doses of each of the two approved coronavirus vaccines. He acknowledged that over the past few weeks, states had left behind how much vaccine they would have from one week to the next.
The shortages were so severe that some vaccination sites in the US had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments with people who wanted to get their first shot.
“This is unacceptable,” Biden said. “Lives are at stake.”
He promised an increase of about 16% in deliveries to states over the next three weeks.
The government has said it plans to buy another 100 million doses of drug manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna to ensure it has enough vaccine for the long term. Even more vaccine could be available if federal scientists approve a single-dose shot of Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to receive emergency approval in the coming weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported that the government plans to make about 10.1 million first and second doses available next week, compared to the allocation of 8.6 million this week. The figures represent doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. It was not immediately clear how long the increase in doses could be sustained.
Governors and top health officials are increasingly raising the alarm about insufficient supplies and the need for earlier and more reliable estimates of how much vaccine is on the way so they can plan.
Biden’s team today held its first virus – related call with the country’s governors and promised to award solid vaccines three weeks before delivery.
Biden’s announcement comes a day after he had a greater chance of exceeding his vaccination promise to deliver 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office, suggesting a rate of 1.5 million doses per day could soon be reached.
The government also promised more openness, saying it would hold news conferences three times a week, beginning Wednesday, on the outbreak that killed more than 420,000 Americans.
“We appreciate the government declaring that it will offer slightly higher allocations to states for the next few weeks, but we are going to need a lot more,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican.
The set-up inherited from the Trump administration is marked by miscommunication and unexplained bottlenecks, with deficiencies reported in some places, even though the doses of vaccines are on the shelf.
Officials in West Virginia, who had one of the best doses to administer the vaccine, said they had less than 11,000 first doses on hand even after this week’s dispatch.
“I’m screaming my head off” for more, “Republican Gov. Jim Justice said.
California, which has been criticized for a slow explosion of vaccines, announced today that it is centralizing its society of provincial systems and the reporting, notification and eligibility for appointment. Residents are amazed at the different rules in different provinces.
And in Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said the federal government’s limited supply of vaccine is leading the state to offer second doses as first doses again, though he expects people scheduled for their second admission to still have their appointments can be fulfilled. .
The weekly first-dose allocation cycle begins on Monday evenings, when federal officials review data on manufacturers’ vaccine availability to determine how much each state may have. Grants are based on the population of 18 and older in each jurisdiction.
States are notified on Tuesdays of their awards via a computer network called Tiberius and other channels, after which they can specify where doses are to be sent. Deliveries begin next Monday.
A similar but separate process for ordering second doses, which should be given three to four weeks after the first dose, begins each week on Sunday evening.
This afternoon, the CDC reported that just over half of the 44 million doses distributed to states were placed in the arms of humans. This is far less than the hundreds of millions of doses that, according to experts, must be administered to bring about herd immunity and overcome the outbreak.
According to the University of Oxford, the US is fifth in the world in the number of doses administered to the country’s population, behind number 1 Israel, United Arab Emirates, Britain and Bahrain.
The reason why more of the available shots were not released in the US is not entirely clear. But many vaccination sites apparently keep large amounts of vaccine in reserve to make sure people who have already received their first shot receive the required second on schedule.
Some government officials have also complained about a delay between reporting their vaccination numbers to the government and when the figures are posted on the CDC website.
In the New Orleans area, Ochsner Health said Monday that insufficient supply forced the cancellation of 21,400 first-dose appointments last week, but that the second-dose appointments were not affected.
In North Carolina, Greensboro – based Cone Health has announced that it is canceling its first dose of appointments for 10,000 people and moving to a waiting list due to supply problems.
Jesse Williams, 81, of Reidsville, North Carolina, said his appointment with Cone Health was scrapped Thursday, and he is waiting to hear when it can be rescheduled. The former volunteer firefighter hoped the vaccine would enable him to go to church again, play golf and see friends.
“It’s just a frustration that we expected to take our shots and be a little more resilient towards COVID-19,” he said.
The explosion of vaccines in the European Union with 27 countries also landed roadblocks and was also criticized too slowly. Pfizer is delaying delivery as it upgrades its plant in Belgium to increase capacity. And AstraZeneca has announced that its initial shipment will be smaller than expected.
The EU, with 450 million citizens, is demanding that the pharmaceutical companies meet their obligations according to schedule.