Millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine appear to be missing after they were sent by the Trump administration to U.S. states.
According to the Daily Beast and sources within the Biden administration, there may be almost 20 million doses missing since they were sent to the states by the previous administration.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 41.1 million doses have been sent to the states since last month, but only 22.7 million Americans have received a dose.
The Biden transition team assumed that low vaccination rates have decreased to delay states’ reports to the CDC – as well as the public’s reluctance to receive vaccines and other supply problems.
But, as the data seen by the new White House suggests, states say there are vaccines that cannot be traced back to warehouses or other locations, as two sources within the Biden government said the Daily Beast.
Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, added that there appeared to be “incredible inefficiencies” in the distribution of vaccines in the United States, with some states even reporting shortages.
“What we are seeing now are incredible inefficiencies. You have cities canceling vaccination appointments while the data says they have not yet administered a large part of the vaccine that was sent to them, ”said the doctor. “This is the biggest problem.”
This is after the White House Covid-19 Advisory Council, which replaced the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, realized it was working with incomplete data.
Since then, no apparent reason has emerged to explain why the country’s vaccination rate was low, with about 16 million doses administered when Biden took office last Wednesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical advisor, said on Monday that any delay in vaccinations was “disturbing” when asked about the CDC data.
“What would be most disturbing [is] if there’s a vaccine out there and people aren’t using it when others need it, “Fauci told reporters at the White House, and added that” we need to examine “the delay.
Biden, speaking on the same day, said the United States would be “well on its way to collective immunity” and broader protection from the virus by summer, according to plans to vaccinate 1.5 million people a day.
He previously described the Trump administration’s vaccine distribution and delivery plan as “a terrible failure so far”
The discovery of potentially millions of missed doses comes after former Trump health secretary Alex Azar announced plans in December to distribute more doses of vaccines to states from a non-existent reserve stock, as reported by the Washington Post.