Elected President Joe Biden will release the most available doses of COVID-19 vaccine to speed up delivery to more people, a reversal of the Trump administration’s policy, his office said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – With COVID-19 rising and vaccinations starting slowly, Pres. Joe Biden is releasing the most available vaccine doses to protect more people, his office said Friday, a reversal of the Trump administration policy.
“The president-elect believes we need to accelerate the spread of the vaccine while continuing to ensure that the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible,” spokesman TJ Ducklo said in a statement. Biden “supports the release of available doses and believes the government should stop halting the vaccine supply so that we can now get more shots in the Americans.”
Biden’s plan is not to cut two – dose vaccines in half, a strategy that top scientists oppose. Instead, the transmission of first doses would be accelerated and the levers of government power would be used to provide the necessary second doses in a timely manner.
The Trump administration is holding back millions of doses of vaccine to guarantee people a second chance, providing maximum protection against COVID-19. This is considered a prudent approach, as both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require a second chance after the first vaccination.
But a recent scientific analysis in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that a “flexible” approach, roughly analogous to what Biden is talking about, could prevent an additional 23% to 29% of COVID-19 cases compared to with the “fixed” strategy Trump administration follows. It comes from a steady amount of vaccine.
After a glimmer of hope when the first vaccines were approved last month, the country’s vaccination campaign has slowly begun. Of the 21.4 million doses distributed, approximately 5.9 million were administered, or just under 28%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden indicated his displeasure with the progress of vaccinations.
“I think the way it is done now was very, very sad,” he said at his news conference on Friday.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” delivered vaccines to the states, he said, “but did not get it from the vials in people’s arms,” he continued. “So it’s a huge logistical issue about how we do it.”
Biden says he plans to speed up vaccinations by getting the federal government to deliver more vaccinations and take a stronger role in ensuring they are administered.
The American Hospital Association estimates that the country needs to vaccinate 1.8 million people a day, from January 1 to May 31, to reach the goal of being wide by summer. It is also called ‘herd immunity’ and involves vaccinating at least 75% of the population.
Biden set himself the goal of delivering 100 million shots in the first 100 days of his administration. He had earlier said that he and Vice President Kamala Harris had talked to state and local leaders about the efforts of governments at all levels. Among the details: opening vaccination centers and sending mobile vaccination units to hard-to-reach communities.
Rick Bright, Biden’s adviser, says the Trump administration is not taking the last step to guarantee shots are fired. “The most important thing is that there is no coordinated national plan,” Bright told the Associated Press. Bright holds a doctorate in immunology and until his resignation last year headed a government agency for bioprotection, which he said was retaliation for warning the Trump administration that the country was unprepared for a pandemic.
The transition office in Biden said its experts believe that pushing the available vaccine as quickly as possible will not cause problems for people who need their second dose. Biden will make wider use of a Cold War law to order the private industry to supply material for vaccine production should it be necessary, his office said. Vaccines with one shot move through development.
Former head of the Food and Drug Administration Mark McClellan said he agreed with Biden’s decision, but that the increased supply of vaccines should be accompanied by steps to get shots actually fired.
“We are taking more doses than we really need,” McClellan said in an interview. But ‘it must be combined with steps to increase the administration of vaccines, otherwise it does not make much difference.’ McClellan, who served under former Republican President George W. Bush, now heads a health policy center at Duke University.
Biden announced his plan after eight Democratic governors wrote to the Trump administration on Friday urging it to do so.
“The federal government is currently withholding more than 50% of the vaccines currently being produced,” the governors wrote. ‘While some of these life-saving vaccines are in Pfizer freezers, our country is losing 2,661 Americans every day, according to the latest average of seven days. Failure to distribute these doses to countries requesting them is unscrupulous and unacceptable. We demand that the federal government distribute these reserved doses to states immediately. ”
The letter was signed by Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California, Laura Kelly of Kansas, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Andrew Cuomo of New York, Jay Inslee of Washington and Tony Evers of Wisconsin.
As the winter wave of the pandemic pushes deaths to record levels, and hospitals in large and small cities are overwhelmed, some have called on the government to use just one dose of Pfizer and Modern vaccines. It will indeed boost immunity.
Government scientists, including dr. Anthony Fauci, however, said the vaccines should still be used as prescribed under their FDA approval. The two-shot regime offers about 95% protection.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, more than 365,000 Americans have died as a result of the pandemic. The average positive seven-day percentage for the country has continued to rise since Christmas and stood at 13.6% on Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. This is far above the 10% rate considered as an indication of widespread infestation.
Ducklo, a spokesman for Biden, said the president-elect would share further details next week.
Biden’s plan to change the vaccine distribution plan was first reported by CNN.
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This story was corrected to show that 21.4 million doses of vaccine were distributed, not 29.4 million.
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AP Reporter Michelle R. Smith in Providence, RI, contributed to this report.
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