NEW YORK – The drive to vaccinate Americans against coronavirus is hitting an obstacle: several states are reporting they are running out of vaccines, and tens of thousands of people who have managed to schedule a first dose are seeing them canceled.
The full explanation for the apparent incompatibility between supply and demand was unclear, but last week the United States Department of Health and Human Services suggested that states had unrealistic expectations about the amount of vaccine on the way.
The scarcity comes as states dramatically increase their vaccination initiatives, under the guidance of the federal government, to target people aged 65 and over, along with other groups considered essential or at high risk. More than 400,000 deaths in the United States have been attributed to the virus.
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First grade teacher Karen Stachowiak spent nearly five hours on the hotline and on the New York state website to get an appointment scheduled for Wednesday, but canceled it. The Buffalo area resident and her parents were among several thousand people with canceled appointments in Erie County due to supply problems.
“It is stressful because I was very close. And my other friends who are teachers, they managed to make appointments for last Saturday,” said Stachowiak. “So many people are doing this and then it’s like, ‘No, I have to wait.'”
About half of the 31 million doses distributed to the states by the federal government have been administered so far, although only about 2 million people have received the two doses required for maximum protection against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Control and Prevention of Diseases.
European countries are also having trouble getting enough doses to provide protection against a virus that is now appearing in new, more contagious variants around the world.
Pfizer said last week that it would temporarily reduce deliveries of its vaccine to Europe and Canada, while increasing the capacity of its factory in Belgium, which supplies all vaccines delivered outside the United States. In the USA, Pfizer has a plant in Michigan.
In the United States, some states have suggested that the vaccine may run out of vaccine until Thursday and it is unclear when new doses will arrive.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that the city had to cancel 23,000 appointments for people waiting for their first dose this week due to inadequate supplies. The mayor, who for days has raised the alarm about the shortage of the vaccine, said the situation was aggravated by the delay in delivering the Modern vaccine in the city this week.
“So we were already feeling the stress of the vaccine shortage,” he said. “Now the situation has gotten even worse. We need to think differently right now.”
City health commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said the 103,400 doses of Moderna scheduled for delivery on Tuesday – 54,200 first doses and 49,200 second doses – were now expected for Wednesday and Thursday.
Citing a shortage of vaccines across the state, the New York City police department suspended the initial vaccination of its officers.
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In Florida, local media reported a similar problem in the Miami area, where the Baptist Health health system canceled appointments that had been scheduled for the first few doses.
“I could have popped my head off with the steam,” Charlotte Reeve, 76, told The Miami Herald. “I am also a fairly recent widow. For me, having to be locked up in my house alone is devastating to me … I feel like I just cut my knees again.”
The San Francisco health department said it would likely run out of vaccine on Thursday, in part because the state gave up on administering a batch of injections of Moderna after several health professionals suffered what may have been a negative reaction. The county health department received 12,000 doses last week, but less than 2,000 this week.
West Virginia, which ran one of the nation’s fastest vaccination campaigns, in part through small-town pharmacies, said it did not receive an expected dose increase this week. With 99.6% of the first doses in hand already administered, the authorities are calling for the government to send more.
“Here we are, without vaccines,” said Republican Governor Jim Justice, worrying that other states have unused doses. “We have them all in people’s arms and we did exactly what we should have done. … I think the performance should be rewarded.”
He said the state did not receive an additional 25,000 promised doses this week, in addition to its usual weekly allocation of around 23,000.
Hawaii leaders complained that the state received 59,000 doses last week, but expects only about 32,000 this week.
In New York State, Barbara Carr, a 72-year-old retiree from Buffalo, was distraught when her vaccination appointment for Thursday was canceled. But she quickly got another appointment at a local pharmacy and received her first dose on Tuesday.
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Now she is concerned about her two children, who are teachers. Their appointments have been canceled.
“They had no luck with scheduling, without calls, without any communication other than ‘You’re canceled’,” said Carr. “The poor teachers … I can stay at home to hide from the virus. They can’t.”