The Trump administration is changing the way coronavirus vaccines are allocated to states, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday.
Rather than dividing vaccines based on population, the administration will instead assign doses based on how quickly they can give the injections, as well as the size of the population over age 65, Azar said.
States have two weeks to prepare for the change, Azar said, which should give them time to improve their reporting to a federal database.
Azar indicated that some of the current slowness is due to data reporting issues, and the change in the allocation method will provide an incentive for them to resolve those issues.
“This new system gives states a strong incentive to ensure that all vaccinations are reported immediately, which they are currently not,” Azar told reporters at a news conference.
“It gives states a strong incentive to ensure that doses are going to protect people rather than sitting on shelves or in freezers,” he added.
The policy change would reward states that vaccinate people quickly and is because top officials complain about the slow pace of vaccinations.
Azar said the rigid adherence to the eligibility criteria by states has created a bottleneck. The government’s Operation Warp Speed has made nearly 25 million first doses available in the past month, but just over 9 million people have been vaccinated.
“We need doses that go to where they will be delivered quickly and where they will protect the most vulnerable,” Azar said.
To this end, the government is also urging states to provide photographs to everyone 65 and older, regardless of underlying health conditions, as well as anyone under the age of 65 with an underlying condition. The administration will also release second doses of the vaccines it has kept in reserve, in an effort to double the number of doses available.
Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield
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“It’s going to be a tough January and probably February, but with a vaccine and the new therapies we have, there’s really strong light at the end of that tunnel as we move into March,” Redfield said. “We must now really commit to getting as many Americans as possible vaccinated who are especially the most vulnerable and at risk of hospitalization.”
But current Trump officials will no longer be in charge in two weeks, and it is not clear whether the upcoming Biden administration will support such a change. Azar said Operation Wap Speed had not yet spoken to the transition team about the change.
“While we will certainly inform the Biden team of those changes, as you know, we are working with one government at a time, and this is the approach that we believe best meets the mission and current situation we are facing today”, says Azar said.
A spokesman for the Biden transition did not respond to a request for comment.
If implemented, the policy change could create even more headaches for state and local officials already grappling with what they say is insufficient federal government resources and communications.
It is ultimately up to governors, state, and local officials to decide who is eligible for the vaccine in their state. Many states are already opposing the original CDC recommendations on prioritization, but the updated recommendations could turn statewide distribution into a free one for all.