A few days after Alabama’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts ranked last in the US, state health officials announced a new policy in an effort to accelerate implementation: if providers do not use the doses made available to them, as soon as possible, the already limited supply will be removed and sent to another place in the state where they can be administered “in a timely manner”.
“In response to concerns that some providers are failing to administer their vaccine quotes in a timely manner, [Alabama Department of Public Health] will begin removing vaccine supplies from suppliers that are not administering the vaccine in a timely manner, “Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) officials said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The unused vaccine will be redirected to other providers that will administer the vaccine more quickly. ADPH is researching all providers in the state to ensure that all doses administered have been properly reported to us and to determine if there is any vaccine available that needs to be redistributed. somewhere else.”
Currently, county health departments are required to administer “the entire vaccine inventory each week until there is no more vaccine,” said ADPH officials.
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“With the understanding that some smaller rural counties may not be able to give the vaccine in that volume, ADPH is partnering with community providers to quickly bring the vaccine to the public,” they said. To assist with these efforts in all counties, ADPH employees “have been redirected from their existing roles”.
Currently, the vaccine tracker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that Alabama has lagged behind the rest of the country in terms of vaccination efforts, averaging just over 2,800 injections for every 100,000 residents in the United States. Wednesday.
The state, which opened consultations on Monday for residents aged 75 and over and first responders, in addition to health professionals, administered about 139,200 of the 483,275 doses distributed, according to federal estimates.
However, there is a discrepancy between state and federal estimates.
The ADPH data panel currently shows that more than 200,000 doses have been administered to date.
Alabama health officials said in the press release that the department is working with the federal health agency to “solve data problems”.
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“Contrary to some reports, the number of unused doses from previous allocations does not affect the number of doses that the [CDC] authorizes for Alabama. ADPH is working with the CDC to resolve data problems to ensure that Alabama receives credit for every dose administered in the state, “the statement said.
“No doses of vaccine have been dropped in Alabama and the allocations are population-based, so there is no advantage for residents of larger counties over smaller ones,” they added.
In a statement, Dr. Scott Harris, a state health officer, tried to clear up “misunderstandings” about vaccination efforts in Alabama.
“Everyone who receives a COVID-19 vaccine deserves one and will receive it, as we are determined to ensure that no vaccine is left unused on the shelf. We are making every effort to get vaccines to arms as quickly as possible,” he said. “The biggest obstacle to vaccination is still the limited supply of vaccine. We are trying to manage expectations because the deadline for receiving the vaccine has not changed and we cannot give people a resource that we do not yet have ”.
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The state’s new policy to accelerate vaccination efforts follows similar threats made in New York by state governor Andrew Cuomo. The governor said on Monday that hospitals that administered their allocated doses would quickly receive more, while those that took too long to use their doses would not receive additional doses.
“For low performance installations, we will give them less, if any, of the new allocation. They will all have enough to make their team, but we want to make sure that the fastest installations – the best performing installations – get more of the new allocation because we want it to be launched, “said Cuomo. “We don’t want it to be on the shelf. So those who can vaccinate faster will get more out of the new allocation.”
Fox News’ Alexandria Hein contributed to this report.