Public health experts blamed COVID-19 vaccine shortages in the US on Thursday, in part to pressure from the Trump administration to get states to massively expand their vaccination drive to the estimated 54 million people aged 65. and older.
The pressures that began more than a week ago were not matched by sufficient doses to meet demand, according to state and local officials, leading to frustration and confusion and limiting states’ ability to attack the outbreak. killed more than 400,000 Americans.
In recent days, authorities in California, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and Hawaii have warned that their supplies are running out. New York City began to cancel or delay shots or stop making new deals because of the shortages, which President Joe Biden has vowed to turn around.
The roll-out of the vaccine so far has been “a big disappointment,” said Dr. Eric Topol, Head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
The problems began with the Trump administration’s “fatal mistake” of not ordering enough vaccine, which was then picked up by other countries, Topol said. Opening the line to seniors left people disappointed because there wasn’t enough vaccine, he said. The Trump administration also left crucial planning to the states and failed to provide the necessary funding.
“It’s not happening through fairy dust,” Topol said. “You have to put money into that.”
Last week, before Biden took over as president, the US Department of Health and Human Services suggested the frustration was the result of unrealistic expectations among states about how much vaccine was on the way.
But some public health experts said the states have not received reliable information about vaccine dispensing and the amounts they have received are unpredictable. That in turn makes it difficult for them to plan how to vaccinate people.
“It took a bit of building while we’re at it,” says Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s a front-end supply problem, and unless we know how much vaccine is going down the tube, it’s hard to get these things right sized, manned, get people there, get them vaccinated and get them out. “
Secretaries of State for Health have asked the Biden administration for earlier and more reliable predictions about vaccine delivery, Washington State Secretary of State Dr. Umair Shah.
Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials was also among those who said opening up vaccinations to seniors was too early for the offer to catch up.
“We needed stable federal leadership early in the launch to do this,” said Plescia. “That has not happened, and now that we are not prioritizing groups, the supply will be delayed somewhat to catch up with demand.”
Supplies will pick up in the coming weeks, he said. Deliveries go to the states every week, and the government and drug manufacturers have assured that there are large quantities in the pipeline.
The rollout has proceeded at a disappointing pace. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. government has delivered nearly 38 million doses of vaccine to the states, and about 17.5 million of those have been administered.
According to the CDC’s census, about 2.4 million people have received the necessary two doses – far less than the hundreds of millions that need to be vaccinated to overcome the outbreak.
Biden, in one of his first assignments, on Thursday signed 10 executive orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including one that broadens the use of the Defense Production Act to expand vaccine production. The Korean War law of 1950 allows the government to direct the production of critical goods.
He also drafted masks for travel, including at airports and on planes, ships, trains, buses and public transport, and instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up vaccination centers and the CDC to make vaccines available through pharmacies from next month. .
Biden has vowed to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days.
“We will move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated for free,” he said.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have called for more doses. Appointments until Sunday for the first dose of the vaccine at 15 local vaccination centers set up by the municipal health service were postponed until next week.
The New York vaccinations have not stopped, but demand for the shots now far exceeds the number of doses available, the mayor said.
“It’s just really sad that we have so many people who want the vaccine and so much power to give the vaccine, what’s going on?” said de Blasio. “In the absence of supply, we actually have to cancel agreements.”
Rosa Schneider had taken the chance to schedule a vaccination appointment when she learned that educators like her in New York were eligible. An English teacher at a high school who lives in New York City but works in New Jersey said she was called the day before she was due to be vaccinated at a city-run hospital on Wednesday to say that supplies were exhausted and the appointment was made. canceled.
“I was concerned, and I was upset,” says Schneider, 32, but she tries to reschedule daily. She hopes availability will improve in the coming weeks.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.