The AP
updated on January 8, 2021 | 1:05 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden will launch most of the available doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to speed up delivery to more people, a reversal of the Trump administration’s approach, his office said on Friday.
“The president-elect believes that we must accelerate the delivery of the vaccine while continuing to ensure that Americans who need it most receive it as quickly as possible,” said spokesman TJ Ducklo in a statement. Biden “supports the release of immediately available doses and believes that the government should stop withholding vaccine supplies so that we can get more injections into the arms of Americans now.”
Under the Trump administration’s approach, the government has withheld millions of doses of vaccine to ensure that people can receive a second injection, which provides maximum protection against COVID-19. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require a second injection about three weeks after the first vaccination. One-shot vaccines are still being tested.
After a glimmer of hope when the first vaccines were approved last month, the country’s vaccination campaign got off to a slow start. Of 29.4 million doses distributed, about 5.9 million were administered, or 27%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden has already expressed his displeasure. In a speech last week, before his electoral victory was certified by Congress, the president-elect said he plans to speed up vaccinations by making the federal government have a stronger role in ensuring that vaccines are not only available, but that vaccines are happening in the arms of more Americans.
“Trump’s administration plan to distribute vaccines is falling behind – far behind,” said Biden. “If you continue to move as you are now, it will take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”
The American Hospital Association estimates that the country would need to vaccinate 1.8 million people a day, every day, from January 1 to May 31, to achieve the goal of having widespread immunity by summer. This is also called “herd immunity” and would involve vaccinating at least 75% of the population.
Without giving details, Biden said his government will put in place a much more aggressive vaccination campaign, with greater involvement and federal leadership, and the goal of administering 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days.
He said he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been talking to state and local leaders about a coordinated approach that mixes government efforts at all levels. Among the specifics: opening vaccination posts and sending mobile vaccine units to communities that are difficult to access.
“The main thing is that there is no coordinated national plan,” Biden consultant Dr. Rick Bright told the Associated Press.
Biden’s transition office said its experts believe that distributing the available vaccine as soon as possible will not create problems for people who need their second dose. Biden will not hesitate to use a Cold War-era law to direct private industry to supply materials for vaccine production, should this become necessary, his office said.
Biden announced his plan to promote more vaccines after eight Democratic governors wrote to the Trump administration on Friday asking him to do the same.
“The federal government currently has more than 50% of vaccines produced currently withheld,” wrote the governors. “While some of these life-saving vaccines are in Pfizer’s freezers, our country is losing 2,661 Americans each day, according to the last seven-day average. Failure to distribute these doses to states requesting them is unfair and unacceptable. We demand that the federal government begin to distribute these doses reserved to the states immediately. “
The letter was signed by Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California, Laura Kelly of Kansas, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Andrew Cuomo of New York, Jay Inslee of Washington and Tony Evers of Wisconsin.
With the winter wave of the pandemic taking deaths to record levels and overburdened hospitals in cities large and small, some have asked the government to authorize the use of only one dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. This would actually confer an increase in immunity.
However, government scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the vaccines should continue to be used as prescribed under their emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The two-dose regimen provides about 95% protection.
More than 365,000 Americans died as a result of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day average positivity rate for the country has continued to rise since Christmas, and stood at 13.6% on Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. This is well above the 10% rate considered a generalized contagion marker.
Biden’s spokesman Ducklo said the president-elect would share additional details about how his government will cope with the pandemic when he takes office on January 20.
Biden’s plan to change the vaccine distribution plan was first reported by CNN.
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