Covid-19’s statistics in our country were truly devastating. We have overcome 24 million cases and are closing in about 500,000 American lives lost in the pandemic. Even here in New York City, after the overwhelming illness and death we experienced in the spring, hospitals are again almost full, staff are being relocated to care for Covid patients and military volunteers are being sent to provide support. It looks like we started 2021 by taking a big step back in this pandemic.
But a new government took office on Wednesday, and that is cause for hope. The Biden government is already demonstrating a renewed commitment to science-based public health strategies. Last week, Biden announced a new team of scientific advisers and created an office post for the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The new director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, has publicly pledged to lead with science and restore public confidence in the agency. This marks a significant change from the Trump era, when the White House repeatedly interfered with CDC guidelines and data, heavily editing official health recommendations, blocking the publication of guidelines for the reopening of restaurants and other public places and minimizing the risks of reopen schools.
After health professionals spent the past year fighting simultaneous battles against Covid-19 and misinformation about the virus – which often originated from Trump and other elected officials – the Biden government’s support for public health messages based on science looks like a huge burden lifted from our shoulders.
It is true that the launch of the vaccine has been fraught with problems. Federal officials projected that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of 2020, but the actual numbers reported by the CDC fell far short of that goal, with only 2.8 million people receiving the vaccine by the new year. Although vaccinations have increased, with the U.S. averaging about 1 million doses a day last week, it would still take until spring 2022 to vaccinate all adults in the U.S. at that rate, according to a CNN analysis. And as of Friday, nearly 40 million doses of vaccine have been distributed, but only about 48%, or 19 million doses, have been administered.
Along with delays in vaccine administration, there are concerns that supplies are running low. Last week, after the Trump administration promised to release a stockpile of vaccines reserved for second doses, it became clear that such a reserve did not exist.
Despite these setbacks, the Biden government has promised a substantial increase in federal support with a goal of administering 100 million shots in 100 days, and I am hoping that will happen. The government plans to use the Defense Production Act to further increase the production of materials needed to administer vaccines.
For states that are struggling with vaccine implantation, there is also promise of greater support. The president declared plans to deploy the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help establish vaccination sites across the country. He pledged to ensure that these federal resources are directed to the black, Latin and rural communities that were most affected by the pandemic, and called for the creation of mass vaccination centers and mobile units to serve areas of difficult access.
Finally, I am hopeful that the new government will also restore the global partnerships and goodwill that are so critical during this global health crisis. Trump’s decision to leave the World Health Organization and his threats to withdraw funds would have a negative impact on the global fight against diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and measles, and put Americans at greater risk of the global pandemic persistence. Biden promised to rejoin WHO and face this pandemic as part of the global community.
Most are still plans and promises that the new government has yet to deliver. But I’m hopeful. I am hopeful that we will be together against this pandemic and that we now have a federal government that will be with us.