WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is asking states to speed up the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 65 and over and to others at high risk, no longer holding the second dose of the two doses, officials said Tuesday. -market.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that “administration in the states has been concentrated very closely”.
As a result, he said, the Trump administration is now asking states to vaccinate people 65 and older and those under 65 with health problems that put them at high risk. He said that the production of the vaccine is such that the second dose of the double vaccine can be released without impairing the immunization of those who took the first vaccine.
“We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough to ensure that second doses are available to people in production in progress,” Azar told ABC’s Good Morning America. “So, everything is now available to our states and our healthcare providers.”
Each state has its own plan for who should be vaccinated, based on recommendations from the Federal Centers for Disease Control. CDC recommendations give priority to health professionals and residents of nursing homes.
But the slow pace of the vaccine’s release frustrated many Americans at a time when the number of deaths from coronavirus continued to rise. More than 376,000 people died, according to the Johns Hopkins database.
Azar said it is now time to move “to the next phase of the vaccine program” and expand the group of people eligible to receive the first dose.
It also means expanding the number of places where people can be vaccinated, adding community health centers and other drugstores.
“We have already distributed more vaccine than health professionals and people in nursing homes,” said Azar. “We need to reach more management channels. We have to take him to pharmacies, to community health centers. “
He said the federal government “will deploy teams to support states that carry out mass vaccination efforts, if they so desire.”
President-elect Joe Biden is due to deliver a speech on Thursday outlining his plan to speed up vaccines for more people in the first part of his government. His transition team promised to release as many doses of the vaccine as possible, rather than continuing Trump’s administration policy of withholding millions of doses to ensure that there would be enough supply to allow those who took the first injection to receive a second injection.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a second injection about three weeks after the first vaccination. Another vaccine, produced by Moderna, requires a second injection about four weeks later. One-shot vaccines are still being tested.