The federal government’s Operation Warp Speed promised that 20 million doses would be administered before January 1. However, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that just over 11 million doses have been distributed and only 2.1 million have actually been administered to people.
Despite being an order of magnitude behind its self-imposed pace, and almost certain to lose its year-end figures, Trump administration officials told CNN that vaccine distribution is on track and blamed the gap in the delay in disclosing Dice.
A senior administration official told CNN that the distribution was exactly where they expected it to be. This official stressed that there was no delay in reporting the number of vaccines sent, although there is a delay in reporting the doses administered.
The CDC panel, which is currently being updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, says that a big difference between the number of doses delivered and the number administered is expected at this point in Covid’s vaccination program.
In a statement to CNN, Michael Pratt, communications director for Operation Warp Speed, said: “Operation Warp Speed remains on track to have approximately 40 million doses of vaccine and allocate 20 million doses for the first vaccinations by the end of December 2020, with distribution of the 20 million first doses that go until the first week of January, as the states place orders for them. ”
But Dr. Anthony Fauci poured cold water on the notion that vaccine distribution is on track, telling CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Tuesday morning that the US “is certainly not in the numbers we would like at the end of December” , when it comes to the amount of Covid-19 vaccines administered.
“Even if you underestimate 2 million as an under count, how much under count could it be?” Fauci said. “So we are below where we want to be.”
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to face the Trump administration on Tuesday at a slower-than-expected rate of vaccinations. Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday afternoon, he must outline plans to vaccinate people “as soon as possible,” according to a transition official. Biden will call the Trump administration for “falling short of its vaccination rate,” the official said.
Axios was the first to report the details of the speech.
Speaking on CNN on Monday, Dr. Celine Gounder, an adviser to Covid-19 in Biden, lamented the pace at which people are being vaccinated, saying the country needs to vaccinate 1 million people every day, not all. weeks.
“It would take us more than a decade to vaccinate all Americans with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, so this is clearly not an acceptable rate,” said Gounder.
Reasons for delays
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, outlined three main reasons for the problems surrounding distribution: vaccine delivery, inadequate infrastructure and communication.
Regarding the supply of the vaccine, said Benjamin, the United States does not have what it needs to vaccinate the approximately 330 million people who will need it. Current figures show that the United States has about 11.4 million doses on hand, and government officials said they expected 20 million doses on hand in early January. This is significantly less than originally promised by the government, which announced 100 million doses earlier this year.
The transport and storage of the vaccine is complicated and the ultra-cold supply chain has not been used in the past. Just learning and getting used to the system can delay administration of the vaccine and worse.
About 500 doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine had to be discarded on Saturday at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, due to a storage error, according to a facility spokesman.
“We learned that about 50 vials of Moderna vaccine were inadvertently removed from a pharmacy refrigerator overnight,” according to a statement from the medical center. “Our internal review determined that, as a result of unintentional human error, the bottles were not put back in the refrigerator after being temporarily removed to access other items.”
Benjamin, along with former administration officials and health professionals with whom he spoke with CNN, said that communication about vaccine distribution needs to be clearer to address the public’s understanding of the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
Biden’s dilemma
With Biden set to take office in three weeks, most vaccinations are expected to take place under his supervision, marking one of the first tests of his administration. In his comments on the coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon, he must also outline plans to vaccinate Americans quickly, said the transition officer.
The president-elect has set a goal of administering 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office, but plans for how to achieve that milestone still appear to be underway.
Biden’s team has not yet publicly indicated whether it will significantly depart from the current government’s plans, but its transition has been talking to former government officials, hospital chains and members of the medical community about how to deal with the enormous task it has to do. front. According to sources who participated in these talks, Biden’s team came up with several ideas for increasing the federal government’s role in responding to the coronavirus and in delivering the vaccine.
This could include the creation of mass vaccination sites that would be administered by the federal government and emergency testing and treatment at critical points.
Biden’s transition team has also been in regular contact with state and local authorities to assess their needs for vaccine administration, including items such as funding for state and local governments and additional staff.
“I think they are well aware that the federal government will have to play a much more active role not only in the development of the vaccine, but in its administration,” said a state official in contact with the Biden team.
“State health departments are overloaded to the maximum by fighting Covid, doing tests. The county and the location are in the same boat,” said the state official. “It’s not just the scale of the vaccine’s operation, but putting it on top of what the states are already dealing with”
According to Benjamin, who has been talking to the transition team, a more nationalized response may be the answer.
“This requires leadership and coordination at the federal level,” he said. “The targeted use of the Defense Production Act to address production blocks and regulatory barriers. A stronger federal, state and local partnership is also needed for coordination. The Biden government can address this by providing leadership, strengthening delivery infrastructure and improving communication. “
But some health officials fear that changing the process in the middle of distribution may do more harm than good.