The coronavirus vaccine may end the pandemic at some point, but for now its slow implementation is undermining relations between the federal government and states and cities, and is adding yet another major challenge for overworked health departments.
On a tweet on Friday, President Trump said the states were to blame for the slow start of vaccination in Americans, after the federal government “successfully distributed large-scale vaccines.”
But Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles said that the moment the coronavirus infects a new person every six seconds in Los Angeles County, and the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 across California more than doubled in a month, the slow distribution of the vaccine was not acceptable.
The Trump administration said 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of 2020. The number was close to four million.
“We are at a pace now to deliver vaccines in LA in five years, instead of more than half a year,” said Garcetti on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. He criticized the Trump administration for not planning ahead, training more medical professionals to administer the vaccine, and for not providing sufficient assistance to state and local governments.
“The federal government cannot tell local and state governments to do something and not to help us,” he said.
Congress approved a stimulus package on December 27 that will provide $ 9 billion for vaccination costs, in addition to the $ 340 million that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent to states in September and December. But the new funds will arrive long after local health departments – already overwhelmed with mass testing and contact tracking efforts – had to start planning and administering vaccines.
The process is entering a new level of chaos as public health departments begin making the vaccine available to high-risk members of the general public. In Houston, the city’s health department phone system went down on Saturday, the first day of a free vaccination clinic, after receiving more than 250,000 calls.
Older people in Tullahoma, Tennessee, lined up on the sidewalk on Saturday, leaning on walkers and sitting in garden chairs, wrapped in blankets and heavy coats, to wait for the county health department to open their free clinic. The clinic ran out of vaccine supplies before 10 am.
States said their efforts are beginning to gain momentum and that some of the initial problems have been resolved.
Surgeon-General Jerome Adams said on Sunday that the slow start to the vaccination campaign was partly due to holidays, when many public health officials were on vacation. It was also a time when virus cases were increasing across the country, leaving fewer local public health resources available than if the vaccine had arrived when the cases were under control.
“The good news is that we are seeing this grow rapidly, thanks to our state partners,” said Dr. Adams on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “In the past 72 hours, we saw 1.5 million first shots reported.”
He said it was not surprising that the program ran into problems.
“This will always be the most difficult vaccine distribution in history, even if it is not superimposed on a peak and a holiday season,” said Dr. Adams, repeating a message he attributed to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of the specialist country. in infectious diseases.
The second stimulus
Answers to your questions about the stimulus law
Updated on December 30, 2020
The financial aid package will issue payments of $ 600 and distribute federal unemployment insurance of $ 300 for at least 10 weeks. Find out more about the measure and what it offers for you. For details on how to get assistance, see our Help Center.
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- Will I receive another stimulus payment? Individual adults with adjusted gross income on their 2019 tax returns of up to $ 75,000 per year will receive a payment of $ 600, and a couple (or someone whose spouse died in 2020) earning up to $ 150,000 per year will receive double that amount. There is also a $ 600 payment for each child for families that meet these income requirements. People who file taxes using head of household status and earn up to $ 112,500 also receive $ 600, plus the additional amount for children. People with incomes just above these levels will receive a partial payment that decreases by $ 5 for every $ 100 of income.
- When can my payment arrive? The Treasury Department said on December 29 that it started making direct deposit payments and that it would start sending checks the next day. But it will take a while for all eligible people to receive their money.
- Does the agreement affect unemployment insurance? Lawmakers agreed to extend the amount of time that people can receive unemployment benefits and to restart an extra federal benefit that is provided on top of the normal state benefit. But instead of $ 600 a week, it would be $ 300. This will last until March 14th.
- My rent is late or I hope to be soon. Will I get any relief? The deal will provide $ 25 billion to be distributed by state and local governments to help tenants who are left behind. To receive assistance, families will have to meet several conditions: Family income (for 2020) cannot exceed more than 80 percent of the area’s average income; at least one family member must be at risk of homelessness or housing instability; and individuals must qualify for unemployment benefits or have experienced financial difficulties – directly or indirectly – because of the pandemic. According to the agreement, care will be prioritized for low-income families who have been unemployed for three months or more.
Another obstacle is now approaching, which Dr. Adams said he was “terribly concerned about: persuading enough Americans to get the vaccine.
In Ohio, for example, Governor Mike DeWine said that about 60 percent of workers in nursing homes in the state have so far refused to be vaccinated, a statistic he repeated in a television appearance on Sunday. Mr. DeWine did not elaborate on the origin of the figure; his office forwarded the questions to the state Department of Health, which did not answer questions on the matter on Sunday.
The number seemed true for Pete Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association, which represents about two-thirds of Ohio’s qualified nursing facilities. In conversations with members of the association, Mr. Van Runkle said that many reported that less than half of his employees were choosing to receive the vaccine, and one said that only 30% did.
Mr. Van Runkle attributed the low numbers to misinformation and fear, and expressed hope that reluctant workers would change their minds after seeing their colleagues vaccinated without adverse effects.
“People are susceptible to this misinformation,” he said. “When you see what real life brings, I hope it makes a difference.”
In a Sunday appearance on CNN, Governor DeWine said low acceptance rates among nursing home workers alarmed him and would lead to further education efforts on vaccine safety. He noted that nursing homes that educated their employees about the vaccine in advance had much greater adherence.
“You are at risk,” he said of the nursing home workers, “but also the people in that nursing home are at risk, and this injection works and is actually very, very safe.”
In Los Angeles, which has become one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, Mayor Garcetti warned that mask orders and restrictions on companies were not enough to slow the virus in private environments, where people let their guard down.
“This is something that is really spreading at home,” said Garcetti. “It’s a message for the whole of America: we may not all have the same density as LA, but what’s happening in LA can and will be happening in many communities.”