US expands vaccinations to save more Americans
‘Every shot in arm is a step closer to ending pandemic’
The U.S. is entering the second month of the biggest vaccination drive in history with a major expansion of the campaign, opening football stadiums, major league ballparks, fairgrounds and convention centers to inoculate a larger and more diverse pool of people.
In an attempt to reassure the American public that the inoculations are safe, President-elect Joe Biden received his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine Monday with television cameras rolling, three weeks after getting his first one.
Biden took off his sport jacket and said, “Ready, set, go.” Chief Nurse Executive Ric Cumin administered the Pfizer vaccine at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, close to the president-elect’s home.
After a frustratingly slow rollout involving primarily health care workers and nursing home residents, states are moving on to the next phase before the first one is complete, making shots available to such groups as senior citizens, teachers, bus drivers, police officers and firefighters.
“Every shot in the arm is a step closer to ending this pandemic,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said.
Similarly, in Britain, where a more contagious variant of the virus is raging out of control and deaths are soaring, seven large-scale vaccination sites opened Monday at such places as a big convention center in London, a racecourse in Surrey, and a tennis and soccer complex in Manchester.
Across the U.S., where the outbreak has entered its most lethal phase yet and the death toll has climbed to about 375,000, politicians and health officials have complained over the past several days that too many shots were sitting unused on the shelves because of overly rigid adherence to the federal guidelines that put an estimated 24 million health care workers and nursing home residents at the front of the line.
As of Monday morning, nearly 9 million Americans had received their first shot, or 2.7% of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say as much as 85% of the population will have to be inoculated to achieve “herd immunity” and vanquish the outbreak.
Many states are responding by throwing open the line to others and ramping up the pace of vaccinations, in some cases offering them round-the-clock, seven days a week.
Arizona, with the highest COVID-19 diagnosis rate in the U.S., planned to dispense shots beginning Monday in a drive-thru, round-theclock operation at the suburban Phoenix stadium that is home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Shots are being offered to people 75 and older, teachers, police and firefighters.
In Texas, Dallas County was scheduled to open a vaccine megasite Monday on the grounds where the Texas State Fair is held. In Houston, nearly 4,000 people were vaccinated Saturday at Minute Maid Park, the home of baseball’s Houston Astros.
Detroit is turning its TCF convention center into a vaccination center starting Wednesday, with officials planning to schedule 20,000 appointments over the next month for people 75 and older. Police officers and bus drivers can also start to get vaccinated there at the end of the week.
“We are going to keep ramping up our vaccinations to the maximum extent the supply allows,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said.
The slow first stage of the campaign has been blamed in part on inadequate funding and guidance from Washington and a multitude of logistical hurdles at the state and local level that have caused confusion and disorganization.
As Colorado moves into its next phase of vaccine distribution for people 70 and older, frustration is growing among senior citizens who say they have received little or no direct communication from local public health officials and don’t even know where to start the process.
Joyce Ballotti, 85, and her 94-year-old husband went to a vaccination site in Pueblo, Colorado, on Monday that was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. But around 8:45 a.m., they were turned away because it had run out of vaccines.
“When we saw that exit locked, we said, ‘Uh-oh, the city has screwed up again,’ ” Ballotti said.
A police officer managing traffic waved them away, and they received no guidance on other vaccine sites. Ballotti said she is frustrated about the process.
“I’m about ready to get it not at all,” she said, noting that the couple’s son had taken off from work to drive them and now they have to try to do it all over again.