Biden’s 100-day vaccine goal was almost achieved before his arrival

Photographer: Bing Guan / Bloomberg

The United States is close to administering the Covid-19 vaccination at a rate of one million doses per day, suggesting that the goal of 100 million doses in 100 days of Biden’s administration may be a modest aspiration.

In the week Biden took office as president, almost 983,000 injections per day were administered on average over the seven days that ended on Friday, according to data from the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. The most recent three days have exceeded one million doses.

Biden’s goal, essentially, is not to back down. He made the subject of his presidential campaign to criticize the way the previous government dealt with the pandemic – including the launch of the vaccine that fell short of then-President Donald Trump’s promises. At the current rate of about 1 million vaccines per day, it would take almost 18 months to vaccinate 80% of the United States population.

“God willing, we’re not just going to make 100 million, we’re going to do more than that,” Biden said at the White House on Friday.

Biden’s goal of one million shots a day discouraging

Almost 983,000 doses a day were given in the week he took the oath

Source: Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor, said on Thursday that vaccinating 70% to 85% of the country by the end of the summer would allow a return to normality. Doing so would mean administering 460 million to 560 million doses, as current vaccines require a first injection followed by a booster. That’s more than double the rate of Biden 100-day target.

Biden is “taking into account everything that can go right – and also what can go wrong – and is making a thoughtful decision about the target we should aim for,” said Vivek Murthy, chosen by Biden for the US Surgeon General . “But make no mistake, his goal is not only to attend, but to overcome this. But we have to remove the obstacles. “

Pressed over the 100 million-dose target on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained the math behind the government’s thinking. She said that under Trump, 17 million doses were administered in the first 38 days, for an average rate of less than 500,000 per day, and Biden’s team hoped to double that.

Bloomberg data shows that the rate has increased substantially since the first weeks of launch. A more ambitious plan would be to double the current rate of vaccinations – not the average rate during the initial phase of vaccine distribution. This is what some Republicans have asked for.

“America is already moving towards 100 million in 100 days,” Steve Scalise, the second Republican leader in the House, said on Twitter. “Biden could make 200 million in 100 days. Republicans would support. Thanks to Trump, he’s already halfway there. ”

60.3 million shots worldwide: Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker

In the early days of the vaccination campaign, doses were administered gradually. At the time Biden took office, the federal government was making more than 8 million doses a week available through its distribution program, according to allocation data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The shots are going into the arms almost as fast.

These figures include the first and second doses of vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. In total, the US has made available 65 million doses that can be ordered by the end of January and will be shipped in the coming weeks. Of these, almost 40 million have already been shipped, according to the CDC.

The United States has spent more than any country in the world to help accelerate the development and distribution of vaccines. He secured more than 1 billion doses from six companies before any of the vaccines were approved. Despite all the criticism that was directed at the early failures of the vaccine launch, the US still leads the world in administered vaccines and is the fifth country in the world on a per capita basis.

USA takes fifth place in pitches per capita

The Trump administration has also set ambitious goals, with the goal of having hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of 2020 and a fast pace of vaccinations to follow. He reduced those targets after not having as much vaccine available as he expected.

“You can’t reach 100 percent of the goals you haven’t set,” said Alex Azar, health secretary for the Trump administration, in an interview last month. He said the government’s revised targets for 2021 were to ensure that enough vaccines were available to all Americans who wanted one.

The accelerated vaccination campaign is not without its problems. States said they have little long-term visibility into the supply being offered and that there could be significant delays between the time the CDC says the doses are shipped and when they actually arrive. States like West Virginia and North Dakota are running thin vaccine supply pads, having used more than 70% of the vaccines sent to them.

“The problems are many. We will face them and fulfill our bold goal of 100 meters of kick in 100 days ”, Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, said on Twitter Friday morning. “It won’t be easy, easy or without a hitch. But let’s do this. “

New vaccines coming

Vaccine delivery and vaccination rates can accelerate rapidly when new vaccines are released for use. A vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has enough data to start testing now and can have results in a week or two, Fauci said this week. The Food and Drug Administration has changed within a few days to authorize vaccine applications based on early results.