The surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, says the lack of state and local funds may be one of the reasons why millions of COVID-19 vaccines distributed to states across the country have not yet been given to patients.
Just under 3 million people received the vaccine, despite the Trump administration’s pledge to administer 20 million by the end of December.
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Still, Adams said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program that the federal government is “on track” to have 20 million doses of the vaccine “in place by the end of next week”, a weakening of the initial target President Trump.
The federal government tried to shift the blame to the states, with Trump tweeting on Wednesday for state officials to “move” in distributing vaccines to top priority candidates, such as healthcare professionals and elderly patients in nursing homes.
“There are vaccines manufactured, there are vaccines distributed, there are vaccines distributed and there are vaccines that are armed,” said Adams.
“I used to run a state health department. People forget that we have always underfunded public health for several decades. And therefore, chronically, we need to continue to better finance state and local public health, ”he added.
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Governors in several states, however, complained about the lack of federal funding, creating an increasing gap between the number of vaccines available and the number of people receiving them.
The federal government was caught in confusion over the vaccine’s launch, with President-elect Joe Biden criticizing Trump’s efforts to distribute vaccines in a timely manner as “falling behind, far behind”.
Biden said he instructed his team “to prepare a much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things on track” once he takes office on January 20.
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“We will find ways to increase the rate of vaccinations,” he said, reiterating the goal of “ensuring that 100 million vaccines are administered by the end of the first 100 days.”