The leaders of Operation Warp Speed waited more than two months to approve a plan for the distribution and administration of Covid-19 vaccines, proposed by U.S. health officials, officials said, leaving states little time to issue a mass vaccination campaign amid a coronavirus outbreak.
State and local officials had been calling for help in preparing for the largest vaccination program in US history for months when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a roadmap to guide them in September.
The CDC wanted to help states in June make plans to get people vaccinated. But Operation Warp Speed officials refuted the agency’s plan to distribute vaccines. They approved a similar plan in August after exploring other options – then holding on to the release of the CDC State Road Map for two weeks for additional approval and to release it with another document, officials said.
Operation Warp Speed is said to be a high point in the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, but it stumbled at the finish line due to issues with federal planning and foresight. Now the public-private partnership is struggling to speed up vaccinations and amend authorization guidelines, while states race to increase their options for large-scale dosing.
“They had no plans for the last inch of the last mile, the part that matters most – how you’re going to vaccinate so many people quickly,” said Dr. Bruce Gellin, a former health and human resources officer and chair of global immunization at the Sabin Vaccine Institute.