Mitt Romney explodes lack of comprehensive vaccination plan

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah issued a statement on Friday calling for a more complete and urgent plan to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines, while sharply rebuking the current implementation.

“That comprehensive vaccination plans have not been developed at the federal level and sent to states as models is both incomprehensible and unforgivable,” he said.

Romney’s comments came a few days after President-elect Joe Biden criticized the pace of the Trump administration’s launch of the vaccine and promised to step it up when he takes office.

Romney’s statement began with praise for NIH, the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies that contributed to the development of vaccines. He then expressed his discontent with the government, saying that “the vaccination process itself is lagging behind”.

“It was unrealistic to assume that health professionals already burdened with COVID’s care could take on a massive vaccination program,” said the senator. “The same is true with the claim that CVS and Walgreens are going to save the day: they do not have excess staff available to inoculate millions of Americans. Nor are they equipped to deal with the rare but serious reactions that can occur. transfer rate for patients in doctors’ offices is predictably slow. “

He admitted that he has no medical experience, but also said that he knows when a current plan is not working properly and when a better alternative should be developed – “particularly when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake”.

The senator and the 2012 Republican presidential candidate also offered suggestions for a better distribution program. He first proposed seeking advice and information from people who worked on other widespread vaccination programs.

He then said that “any medical professional, retired or active, who is not currently involved in providing care” should be mobilized for the effort. Together with EMS professionals, he said that this effort should include veterinarians, combat doctors and first responders, medical students, first responders and anyone else who can be trained to vaccinate people.

He noted: “Congress has already allocated resources to the states so that these professionals are fully compensated.”

Romney also called for the creation of vaccination sites – possibly in schools – in all states, as well as proposing an approximate vaccination schedule. His statement said, “Schedule vaccinations according to a person’s priority category and date of birth: for example, people in group A with a birthday on January 1 would be assigned a specific day to receive their vaccination.”

He ended his statement by declaring that the plan currently in effect “is terribly behind schedule” and that without major changes “deadly delays can be compounded as broader and more complex populations are added”. He said: “We are already late; urgent action now can help us catch up.”

In addition to Biden, the administration’s pace of implementation has also been criticized by health professionals like Dr. Ashish Jha, who tweeted on Monday: “There is a lot of talk going on about the slow implementation of the vaccine. Personally, I am extremely frustrated. No did we know that vaccines were coming? Is the vaccine administration a surprise? “

In response, Operation Warp Speed ​​spokesman Michael Pratt said in a statement, as reported by CNBC: “Operation Warp Speed ​​continues on its way to having approximately 40 million doses of vaccine and allocating 20 million doses for the first vaccinations by the end of December 2020, with distribution of the 20 million first doses during the first week of January, as states place orders for them. “

Romney spoke in recent weeks about President Donald Trump. In a Dec. 20 interview on CNN, he criticized Trump for what he called “crazy” conspiracy theories about the November presidential election. Instead, the senator told interviewer Jake Tapper that Trump should focus his energy on “writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with respect to the vaccine”.

Romney, 72, received the vaccine on December 18. He tweeted about the experience later, while pushing for approval for a relief package from COVID.

Newsweek contacted Romney and the White House to comment on the senator’s vaccination statement, but received no response at the time of publication.