Now, in one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, California residents were hoping for a rapid implementation of the vaccine. But in less than a month, hospitals administered only 35% of the 1.3 million doses that arrived in the state.
So far, only 454,306 doses of vaccine have been administered – just 1 percent of the state’s population – pushing California further behind its original goal of administering 2 million doses by the end of 2020.
“We are going to start seeing faster delivery of vaccines, I can guarantee that,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference on Monday. “That said, it’s going very slowly, I know, for many of us. We all, I think, want to see 100 percent of what is received immediately administered in people’s arms. We are working aggressively to accelerate our pace ”.
Believed guvs blame hospitals for COVID vaccine fiascos
California has been plagued by logistical hiccups, including difficulty finding enough health workers to administer vaccines and sufficient federal funds to create infrastructure for safe and secure vaccine centers. Local health officials have also blamed a pre-existing federal government health care structure that has never dealt with the pressure on such a fast and volatile supply chain.
Newsom said on Monday that the state would begin using “flexible language” designating who is prioritized for vaccines in cases where doses are set to expire. He also said the state is looking to recruit dentists, pharmacy technicians and members of the National Guard to help speed up the process.
“We are not going to impose actions against people who try to do the right thing and common sense,” he said, breaking with some of his elected colleagues.
California is not alone. Across the country, several states reported surprisingly small numbers of residents who received their first vaccine, despite receiving large doses.
The worst production in the country, according to the CDC, is in the south. Georgia administered only 708 doses per 100,000 inhabitants, while Mississippi administered an injection of approximately 733 per 100,000. In Alabama, only 807 residents received their first shot out of 100,000 residents, although nearly 85,000 vaccines have been distributed to the state.
Kansas is reporting the country’s slowest COVID-19 vaccination rate, having administered about 690 doses per 100,000 residents. State health officials, however, insist that the local delay in sending data to the state is to blame.
The frustration with slow implantation is compounded as cases of the virus continue to skyrocket, leading some state officials to even threaten hospitals to speed up their implantation or face total missed doses, along with heavy fines.
“We are below where we want to be,” admitted Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview with CNN on Monday. “As I am not responsible for the launch myself, I cannot personally guarantee that we will catch up. I hope we do. “
Since December, at least 15,418,500 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been distributed across the country, the CDC said. But only 4.6 million people received their first injections on Tuesday morning.
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A major factor that slows hospitals down is strict adherence to CDC guidelines, which suggests prioritizing healthcare professionals and residents and nursing staff over other essential workers and people over 75. But at the rate at which this is happening, the general population will not be vaccinated in the spring, as public health officials once predicted – a worrying reality, since COVID-19 has already killed 350,000 Americans and infected about 20 millions.
To make matters worse, although both vaccines can last up to six months frozen, doses of Pfizer are only viable for five days after being thawed. The Modern vaccine can be kept refrigerated for up to 30 days. Both vaccines require two injections.
Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida’s Global Health Infectious Disease Research Center, emphasized to The Daily Beast that hospitals should not bear the burden of guilt – because they are just following state guidelines.
“I think hospitals have planned a phased implementation following CDC guidelines,” Michael told The Daily Beast.
“Therefore, it is unfair to place the blame for delayed implantation only in hospitals, due to the sudden changes in policies. Governors needed to have a coordinated plan and greater support well before vaccinations start ”.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed that 300,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in three weeks, less than half of what was allocated. He threatened fines or disqualification from future distributions of vaccines to healthcare systems that do not run out of supplies within a week after delivery.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a similar threat on Monday, saying that “hospitals that are not doing a good job of distributing the vaccine” will see supplies redistributed to providers.
“I don’t want to see a missed, unused vaccine when you could be giving your arm an injection,” said DeSantis.
Pence said Pfizer’s vaccine distribution was ‘strong’. States are calling it bullshit.
According to the CDC, only 260,665 Florida residents – or 0.8 percent of the state’s population – have been vaccinated, although 1.1 million doses have been distributed.
To speed up the process, some local health officials are even turning to online services, such as Eventbrite, to schedule vaccination appointments. According to The Verge, health departments are using the platform, known for selling concert tickets, to schedule appointments and ensure that each dose is administered as quickly as possible.
This electronic assistance can be useful in Kansas, a state with the lowest production of COVID-19 vaccines. According to the CDC, Kansas vaccinated 20,100 residents, although they received more than 131,000 doses.
But the Kansas Department of Health and Environment insists that the CDC database does not show the state’s complete vaccination rollout and insists that doses are not on the shelves. A health department spokesman told The Daily Beast on Monday that vaccines were distributed to all 105 counties and that there were delays in reporting.
“What you are seeing on the data side does not reflect what we are hearing across the state,” said Cindy Samuelson, vice president of public relations and a member of the Kansas Hospital Association, to the Kansas City Star. “The experience we are hearing is that we are one of the few states that has managed to put vaccines in the hands of all counties.”
Several experts told The Daily Beast that states were left to navigate logistics alone, adding to the delays. Months before the two vaccines were authorized, states pleaded with the federal government for additional funding to train health workers and create a vaccine center infrastructure. Although the Trump administration provided some funding, officials said it was too late.
“There seems to be no investment or plan in the last mile,” Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, wrote on Twitter. “No effort by the Fed to help states launch a real vaccination infrastructure. Didn’t the feds know that vaccines were coming? Planning around vaccination sites, etc. Shouldn’t it have happened in October or November? “
President Donald Trump, however, blamed the slow release in the states after what he called “successful and large-scale distribution of vaccines” by his administration. Surgeon General Jerome Adams also insisted that “this will always be the most difficult vaccine distribution in history”.
But Michael insists that the blame game for politicians is not going to rush implementation – and just shows the divide between the government and the public health system.
“Hospitals are under pressure and it is essential that governors also support them with extra resources, since hospitals also have to deal with the increase in COVID cases in parallel,” he added.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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