Vaccine distribution in the United States started off slower than expected, federal health officials acknowledged at a news conference on Wednesday, although they also expressed confidence that the pace would accelerate in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, more than 14 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were shipped across the United States, compared with 11.4 million doses on Monday morning. But only 2.1 million people received their first dose on Monday morning, according to a panel maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We agree that this number is less than we expected,” said Moncef Slaoui, scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to accelerate the development and distribution of vaccines. He added: “We know it should be better and we are working hard to make it better”.
The 2.1 million administered doses reported by the CDC are an underestimate of the true number due to delays in reporting. And a CDC official said at a separate press conference on Wednesday that 2.6 million people received their first dose. Whatever the number, it falls far short of the goal that federal authorities set this month to have 20 million people vaccinated by the end of this year.
The Operation Warp Speed press conference came a day after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivered a speech in Wilmington, Del., Criticizing the Trump administration for these delays. Biden said that, with the current vaccination rate, “it will take years, not months” to protect the entire country.
When he takes office on Jan. 20, Biden said, he will use a law called the Defense Production Act to “order private industry to speed up the manufacture of vaccine supplies and protective equipment.” The Trump administration has already used this law to speed up manufacturing, however, and Biden has given little detail about how his plan will be different. He promised to administer 100 million injections – or enough for about 50 million people using two-dose vaccines – in the first 100 days of his term.
“This will be the biggest operational challenge we have ever faced as a nation,” said Biden, “but we are going to solve this.”
On a tweet on Tuesday, President Trump seemed to place the blame on the governors, saying that “it was up to the states to distribute the vaccines once they were delivered to areas designated by the Federal Government”. But several governors said recently that their states have struggled because they have not received enough money from the federal government.
At Operation Warp Speed’s press conference on Wednesday, General Gustave F. Perna, the effort’s logistics leader, said his team did not have a clear understanding of why these delays were happening. He said the CDC is collecting data to better understand the factors that drive slow acceptance. “Having more specificity at this point, after two weeks, I don’t think it would be appropriate,” he said.
But General Perna pointed out some possible contributing factors. In addition to reporting delays, the holiday season and winter weather delayed acceptance. Hospitals and other facilities that administer vaccines are still learning how to store doses at very low temperatures and administer them properly. And states have set aside many doses to be distributed to their long-term care centers, a campaign that is in preparation and is expected to take several months.
So far, most of the vaccines administered have been distributed in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. Dr. Slaoui and General Perna said they expect the pace of the launch to accelerate significantly once pharmacies start offering vaccines in their stores.
The federal government has entered into agreements with several drugstore chains – including Costco, Walmart and CVS – to administer vaccines in their stores and elsewhere as vaccines become more widely available. So far, 40,000 pharmacies have signed up for this program, said General Perna.
“What we should be looking at is the rate of acceleration in the coming weeks,” said Slaoui, “and I hope it is in the right direction.”