President Biden is also pushing for faster inoculations – a case he must do on Friday when he travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to visit the factory of Pfizer, one of two federally authorized vaccine manufacturers.
Federal officials estimate that up to six million doses of vaccine are still being stored unnecessarily. Releasing them could increase the number of doses used by more than 10 percent – significantly increasing the pace of the country’s inoculation program at a time when speed is essential to save lives, control disease and prevent more contagious variants of the virus. So far, 56 million injections have been administered and only 12% of Americans have received one or more doses.
The idea that doses are kept in cold storage while millions of people fall ill on waiting lists has deeply frustrated government officials. The roots of the problem are twofold.
First, when the federal vaccination program for long-term care facilities started at the end of last year, the CDC based quotas on the number of beds, although occupancy rates are the lowest in years. According to the American Health Care Association, a commercial group, only 68 percent of nursing home beds and 78 percent of assisted living beds are now occupied.
The CDC then doubled that allocation to cover the team. But while four-fifths of long-term care residents agreed to be vaccinated in the first month of the program, 63 percent of employees refused, the agency said. More have since agreed, although it is unclear exactly how many more.
Despite the lack of adherence, the pharmacy chains that administer the program continued to collect their funds from the federal government. At one point in Virginia, Avula said, they used less than one in three doses they had on hand.
As “good, corporate, risk-averse companies,” said Clark Mercer, Virginia Chief Governor Ralph Northam’s chief of staff, “if they can cash out, they will withdraw.”