In response to growing frustration over vaccine shortages, President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the US is ramping up supplies to heavily stressed states over the next three weeks and expects to deliver enough doses to reach 300 levels by the end of summer or early fall. million Americans.
Biden, calling the push a “war effort,” said the government was in the process of purchasing an additional 100 million doses of each of the two approved coronavirus vaccines. He acknowledged that in recent weeks, states have been guessing how much vaccine they’ll get from one week to the next.
The shortages were so severe that some vaccination sites in the US had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments with people looking for their first chance.
“This is unacceptable,” said Biden. “Lives are at stake.”
He promised about 16% more shipments to states in the next three weeks.
The government said it plans to buy an additional 100 million doses each from drug manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna to ensure it has enough vaccine for the long term. Even more vaccine could be available if federal scientists approve a single-dose injection of Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to apply for emergency licensing in the coming weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the government plans to make about 10.1 million first and second doses available next week, up from this week’s allotment of 8.6 million. The numbers represent doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. It was not immediately clear how long the increase in doses could be sustained.
Governors and top health officials have increasingly raised the alarm about inadequate supplies and the need for earlier and more reliable estimates of how much vaccine is underway so they can plan.
Biden’s team held its first virus-related appeal with the country’s governors on Tuesday, pledging to provide states with solid vaccine allocations three weeks before delivery.
Biden’s announcement came a day after he became more optimistic about exceeding his vaccine promise to deliver 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office, suggesting a rate of 1.5 million doses per day could be reached soon.
The government has also pledged more openness, saying it will hold newsletters three times a week starting Wednesday on the outbreak that killed more than 420,000 Americans.
“We appreciate the government’s stating that it will give states slightly higher allocations in the coming weeks, but we will need a lot more supply,” said Maryland Government Republican Larry Hogan.
The set-up inherited from the Trump administration has been characterized by miscommunication and unexplained bottlenecks, with shortages reported in places even if vaccine doses remain on the shelf.
Officials in West Virginia, which has had one of the best delivery rates, said they have fewer than 11,000 first doses on hand even after this week’s shipment.
“I’m shouting my head off” for more, said Republican Governor Jim Justice.
California, which has been criticized for a slow rollout of vaccines, announced Tuesday that it is centralizing its mishmash of county systems and streamlining the signing up, enrollment and eligibility of appointments. Residents are baffled by the different rules in different provinces.
And in Colorado, Democratic Governor Jared Polis said the federal government’s limited supply of vaccines is pushing the state to use second doses as first doses, although he expects people scheduled for their second admission will still be able to meet their appointments. fulfill. .
The weekly allocation cycle for the first doses begins on Monday evening, when federal officials review vaccine availability data from manufacturers to determine how much each state can have. Allocations are based on the population of persons 18 years of age and older in each jurisdiction.
States will be notified of their allocations on Tuesday through a computer network called Tiberius and other channels, after which they can specify where they want to send the doses. Deliveries begin the following Monday.
A similar but separate process for ordering second doses, to be given three to four weeks after the first, starts every week on Sunday evening.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the CDC reported that just over half of the 44 million doses distributed to states have been placed in people’s arms. That is far less than the hundreds of millions of doses that experts say will need to be administered to achieve herd immunity and overcome the outbreak.
According to the University of Oxford, the US ranks fifth in the world in terms of the number of doses administered in relation to the population of the country, behind number 1 Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and Bahrain.
The reason why more of the available shots have not been distributed in the US is not entirely clear. But many vaccination sites apparently keep large amounts of vaccine in reserve to ensure that people who have already received their first injection get the required second one on time.
Also, some government officials have complained about a delay between when they report their vaccination figures to the government and when the figures are posted on the CDC website.
In the New Orleans area, Ochsner Health said Monday that an inadequate supply last week forced the cancellation of 21,400 first-dose appointments, but that it does not affect second-dose appointments.
In North Carolina, Cone Health of Greensboro announced it is canceling first-dose appointments for 10,000 people and moving it to a waiting list due to delivery issues.
Jesse Williams, 81, of Reidsville, North Carolina, said his appointment with Cone Health on Thursday was scratched, and he’s waiting for a message when it might reschedule. The former volunteer firefighter had hoped the vaccine would allow him to return to church, play golf and see friends.
“It’s just a frustration that we expected to get our shots and be a bit more resilient to COVID-19,” he said.
The roll-out of vaccines in the European Union of 27 countries has also hit roadblocks and is also criticized as being too slow. Pfizer is delaying deliveries as it upgrades its factory in Belgium to increase capacity. And AstraZeneca announced that the first delivery will be smaller than expected.
The EU, with 450 million citizens, demands that pharmaceutical companies meet their obligations on time.
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Associated Press writers in the US contributed to this report.
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Find AP’s full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic