The roll-out of the vaccine has so far not gone as planned, and has caused shortages of resources and staff problems due to the raging pandemic.
Why it matters: The Trump administration’s goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of the year fell drastically short, raising concerns about how long it may take for enough people in the US to be vaccinated to bring life back to normal.
In numbers: According to a Bloomberg analysis of CDC data, 1.3% of the U.S. population has been vaccinated and 33% of shots given out to states have been administered.
- Operation Warp Speed has distributed 13 million doses, about 7 million doses short of its target. About 4.3 million doses have been administered.
The state of affairs: According to the New York Times, state officials have given several reasons why vaccinations have been slower than expected.
- The proliferation of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths have overwhelmed health care facilities, hampering their ability to deliver vaccines.
- Many states have reserved vaccine doses for nursing homes and long-term care facilities, slowing distribution.
- The holidays also resulted in fewer hours and a limited workforce in clinics.
Yes but: NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he has seen “a little ray of hope” after 1.5 million doses were administered in the previous 72 hours, a marked increase in vaccination coverage.
In light of this slow rollout some experts simply want to prioritize getting more weapons – no matter what weapons they are – as the pandemic worsens.
Driving the news: The chief of Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, said yesterday that the government is considering halving the dose of each injection of the Moderna vaccine to double the number of people who could get it per NYT.
And some experts argue that second shots should be delayed.
- “It’s time to change the plan; namely, we need to give people a single vaccination now and delay their second injection until more vaccine doses become available,” wrote Robert Wachter of UCSF and Ashish Jha of Brown in a Washington op-ed yesterday. Post.
Texas Health Department recently sent a letter to vaccine providers urging them to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible.
- “If, in any given situation, all readily available and willing 1A and 1B persons have been served, we recommend that you re-run and provide vaccine to any additional available and willing persons, regardless of their priority designation,” wrote the commissioner .
It comes down to: “A vaccine that has been on the shelf for weeks for the perfect recipient is not helping to stop the pandemic,” former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote in a WSJ opinion piece.