President Biden is under pressure to aim even higher with his administration’s targets for vaccine distribution, with experts noting that his early attempt to deliver 100 million injections in 100 days is not dramatically different from the current pace.
The new government has labeled its vaccine target as ‘ambitious’ and ‘courageous’. But a vocal group of experts says Biden’s goal is actually far less than what it takes to tame the pandemic, especially with more contagious variants emerging.
“100 million injections means 50 million people,” said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, as the two currently available vaccines require two doses. “That is completely inadequate.”
A more contagious variant first found in the UK could be the dominant strain in the US in March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned, further increasing the number of cases and further undermining hospitals. come under pressure. That makes faster vaccinations even more urgent.
“That’s really the urgency that people don’t understand,” Topol said.
Biden officials have stressed that they will not stop vaccinations if they reach the goal before 100 days, so the goal may be exceeded. However, experts say the goal still matters and the overriding focus should be on the 24/7 delivery of vaccines.
In part, the new administration is trying to raise expectations that the pandemic will not turn around immediately and is trying to portray the Trump administration as if it left little to cooperate with the vaccination effort.
“What we inherit is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff Zients
Jeff ZientsBiden Under Pressure To Deliver More COVID-19 Shots Fauci: We’re Not Starting Vaccines ‘From Scratch’ These are the executive orders Biden signed in the first three days at the office MOREBiden’s coronavirus response coordinator said Wednesday during a phone call with reporters.
Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciOvernight Healthcare – Fauci: Lack of Facts ‘Probably’ Costs Lives in Fight Against Coronavirus | CDC Changes COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines to Rare Mix of Pfizer, Moderna Shots | Chaos in Senate threatens to slow down Biden’s agenda Fauci furious with threats to family Poll: Many voters say coronavirus vaccine rollout is slower than expected MORE, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, told reporters on Thursday that the new administration is “strengthening” what the Trump administration was doing by taking a more active federal role, but “we’re certainly not starting from scratch.”
The Trump administration was criticized by experts for placing too much responsibility on states for the “last mile” of being shot without sufficient federal support and for not providing clear enough information about how much vaccine each state would receive and when.
Despite the problems with the initial rollout, the pace of vaccinations in the US had already risen close to the target Biden had made of 1 million shots a day, even before his administration took over. The US made an average of 911,000 shots a day on Jan. 19, according to data collected by Our World in Data, just behind Biden’s desired target.
“Don’t let the media and Democratic politicians turn this around,” said Rep. Steve Scalise
Stephen (Steve) Joseph Scalise Biden’s inauguration marked by conflict of hope and fear Scalise brings Donna Brazile as a guest to Biden’s inauguration House GOP lawmaker: Trump ‘put all our lives in danger’ MORE (La.), The House Republican whip, tweeted on Thursday. Biden’s vaccine plan is Trump’s vaccine plan. The United States was already on track for 100 million doses in 100 days. “
Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the U.S. could need about 250 million people to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, when enough of the population is immune to the spread of the virus. dramatically reduce.
“For a two-dose vaccine, that’s 500 million doses, so when you’re talking about giving a million doses a day, we’re probably better off on about 3 million doses a day if we can get there,” he said. “A million doses a day is not enough to get there quickly.”
Biden became defensive on Thursday when a reporter asked if 100 million shots in 100 days is enough, as the US is already almost on track to reach that goal.
“When I announced it, you all said it wasn’t possible,” Biden said. “Come on. Give me a break, man. It’s a good start, 100 million.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen Psaki Biden Under Pressure To Get More COVID-19 Shots Biden, Trudeau Agree To Meet Next Month Democrats Seek Answers On The Impact Of Russian Cyber Attack On Justice, Courts MORE said Friday there is always room to exceed the target, but noted a string of headwinds, including vaccine hesitation and delivery issues.
“If we beat that, that’s great,” she said. “We will continue to work after day 100.”
The Biden government is taking a number of steps to increase federal support for the vaccination effort, regardless of its stated goal. Biden signed an order to use the Defense Production Act more fully to require companies to increase production of vaccine supplies.
One point of concern is to expand the range of special syringes that can extract an additional dose of vaccine from some vials, increasing the number of available doses.
The administration also plans to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up federally operated vaccination sites, with a target of 100 sites in the first month.
There are also questions about how many doses of vaccine will be available. Pfizer and Moderna have each pledged to have 100 million doses for the US by the end of March – twice as many as needed to meet Biden’s goal – though it’s possible manufacturing issues could reduce those numbers.
Officials hope that a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, can be approved in the coming weeks, which would provide additional supplies.
But officials at the Biden administration said they are still trying to get a grip on the supply situation and have no exact projections from manufacturers.
The new administration is also seeking to improve communication with state leaders, who have complained that the Trump team has not given them information about their allocations far enough in advance to plan properly.
The clock is ticking, said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health, given the spread of more contagious variants.
“They emphasize the real need to accelerate the rollout as much as possible,” he said. “Because, to some extent, it’s a race between a more contagious virus and our ability to protect people.”