Slavitt said the rocky start to the distribution effort caused a backlog of doses that were in the states. He said that problem was also exacerbated by inconsistent information states had previously received from the federal government about how much vaccine they would be getting each week.
“We fully understand that this is a direct result of the lack of predictability that many states and providers have had regarding the number of doses they would receive,” Slavitt said during a briefing on the pandemic response. He noted that the government has committed to notify states within three weeks of the allocations to allow for better planning.
Slavitt also said the federal government had initially overestimated how many doses of CFS and Walgreens had to be sent as part of a program to vaccinate long-term care facilities, which led to states remaining in stock. The CDC is working with states to reassign some of those unused doses, POLITICO reported last week.
About 62 percent of the divided doses have now been administered, up from 46 percent about two weeks ago, Slavitt said. He added that the administration expects the efficiency of the state’s vaccination programs to “steadily improve”.