Joe Biden’s new CDC Director said on Thursday that the COVID-19 vaccines will not be as widely available as the flu vaccine in mid-February, a promise that was made by Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, last month, and the launch will take much longer.
Speaking on Today, Dr. Rochelle Walensky was unable to give a date on when vaccines would be available in pharmacies and said the new administration has to step on the gas to deliver them to Americans more quickly.
So far, it is up to the states themselves to distribute the vaccine. Massachusetts says it will start putting vaccines in some pharmacies next week, but it is far from common in the United States.
Most states are still working on their first vaccine groups – over 65 and people with latent health problems.
There are already absences and delays. California does not believe it will end vaccination for this group by June. All vaccination appointments in New York City that are scheduled to take place between today and Sunday have also been postponed for a week.
The Biden government says that fighting COVID-19 is its top priority and the president has promised to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.
They made great promises to increase vaccine distribution, launching large-scale vaccination sites in places like Yankee Stadium and hiring medical students, military personnel, retired doctors and nurses to deliver the vaccines.
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Speaking on Today, Dr. Rochelle Walensky was unable to give a date on when vaccines would be available in pharmacies and said the new administration had to step on the gas to deliver them to Americans more quickly.
Biden will also order manufacturers to produce syringes, needles, masks or any of the missing elements that may be delaying the effort under the Defense Production Act.
Officials say the Trump administration did not have a clear plan and that they had to start from scratch.
Walensky on Thursday was unable to give a clear timetable on when the vaccine will be available at CVS and Walgreen stores across the country, but she said it will not be in February.
‘Will it be in all pharmacies in this country in that timeline? I think not.
– And as I said before, I’m going to tell the truth here.
“I don’t think that at the end of February we will have a vaccine in all pharmacies in this country.
‘We said 100 million doses in – the first in 100 days and we will follow that plan.
“But I also want to be well aware of the fact that after 100 days, there are still many Americans who need the vaccine.”
She said that a key part of the plan will be to use the new vaccines that must be approved.
At the moment, only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved in the USA.
AstraZeneca has been approved in the UK, but not yet in America.
Johnson & Johnson is expected to have its vaccine data reviewed next week, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“The more vaccines we have with FDA clearance, the better off we are,” said Walensky.
She also said that they started working to speed up vaccine production, but did not give a deadline for when it would start to happen more quickly.
“There are several plans, as we think in the future, about how we are going to vaccinate people,” she said, adding that they need to balance “the amount of vaccine we have to the number of eligible people, so I don’t have a vaccine on the shelves and even so I don’t see the footage of those long lines.
‘We need to make sure that there are enough vaccinators out there, that we hire health bodies, that we have military doctors, that we have retirees, medical and nursing students who are about to graduate, dentists and veterinarians, to be there to vaccinate the public ‘, she said.
Asked if she knew when this would happen, she said: ‘We are working to answer the questions. We are on the second day in the driver’s seat.
‘But we understand exactly – now, I think we still have vaccines on the shelves that we need to put on people.’
The US vaccinated only 5.2% of its population, while Israel vaccinated 32% of its population
On December 14, Alex Azar, Trump’s HHS secretary, said the vaccines would be as available as the flu vaccine in mid-February.
On Wednesday, Biden’s vaccination coordinator, Bechara Choucair, outlined her plan on a call with reporters.
“First, we are going to create as many places as possible for people to be vaccinated,” he said.
The boost to 100 million would still fall short of what many experts say is needed to achieve ‘herd immunity’, but the government believes it will greatly reduce the spread and begin to reduce infections.
“It is an ambitious goal, but achievable … but only the beginning,” said Jeffrey Zients, Biden’s new COVID czar, in a press conference on Wednesday.
A request would direct agencies to ‘exercise all appropriate authorities’ – including the Defense Production Act – ‘to speed up manufacturing, delivery and administration to address deficiencies in equipment and supplies needed for the COVID-19 response.’
Another would increase FEMA’s reimbursement rates to assist states in their responses. Another request aims to expand the testing offer and boost access to tests – with the aim of getting people back to work and reopening schools.
Yet another would seek to ensure that drug studies ‘meet the needs of diverse populations’.
Part of Biden’s plan is to use large-scale venues like Yankee Stadium as vaccination centers
Larger studies already seek to examine the effects in different minority groups. Some locations have already experienced disparities in the communities receiving the vaccine.
An executive order to the Departments of Education, Health and Services will direct them to provide guidance on the reopening of schools ‘so that state and local authorities have metrics to inform decision making’. The administration wants a majority of schools open in 100 days.
A new test board will be tasked with developing a ‘clear and unified approach’ to testing.
The government is also planning to provide more information to the public, with regular briefings by public health officials, after the Trump Administration implemented and removed the coronavirus task force briefings.
Zients said the team he is overseeing will seek to restore the confidence of the American people.
The US is still facing the pandemic with the number of daily deaths at its highest level