WILL STOCKPILE MEET DOSE DEMAND?
Northam blasts federal confusion amid Va. vaccine distribution strategy shift
A day after state officials said they would begin offering the coronavirus vaccine to about half of Virginia’s population, they now don’t know whether supplies will come from the national stockpile to support that expansion.
Some state and local leaders around the country said Friday that if the federal government doesn’t increase shipments as they believed it would, their vaccination programs’ reach will be dramatically limited.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday the U.S. government would release all available doses to the states instead of holding about half in reserve for the second shot that each person requires. But the Trump administration already had begun shipping out what was available at the end of December, the Washington Post reported Friday based on anonymous state and federal officials briefed on distribution plans.
That increased allotment of doses was expected to fuel a long-anticipated increase in vaccine administrations to seniors and people with existing medical
conditions.
The Post reported Friday that a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Pratt, confirmed in an email the final reserve of second doses had been released to states for orders over the weekend but did not address Azar’s comments this week. He said: “Operation Warp Speed has been monitoring manufacturing closely, and always intended to transition from holding second doses in reserve as manufacturing stabilizes and we gained confidence in the ability for a consistent flow of vaccines.”
He also said states have ordered only about 75 percent of what is available to them.
Gov. Ralph Northam’s press secretary, Alena Yarmosky, issued a strong rebuke against the White House for the confusion in a statement Friday afternoon, saying staff was still in the dark on how this could impact Virginia’s vaccine distribution program.
“Once again, the Trump administration cannot seem to provide basic facts and truths. On Tuesday, governors were told explicitly that we would be provided additional doses — Virginia immediately pivoted, and we moved quickly to expand eligibility and increase access,” she said in the statement. “Now, the news media is reporting that the exact opposite may be true. We’re frankly trying to gather as much information as possible right now — like every American, we need to understand what is going on, so we can plan accordingly.”
Yarmosky went on to say the shift was “not surprising.”
“What we’re seeing is fully in line with the dysfunction that has characterized the Trump administration’s entire response to COVID19,” she said in the statement. “President-elect Biden cannot be sworn in fast enough.”
About 268,330 of Virginia’s 943,400 vaccines had been injected as of Friday, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Northam said “100%” of Virginia’s supplies have been distributed to vaccination sites throughout the state.
The state has been receiving about 110,000 doses a week, health officials said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday night she was told by Gustave F. Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, that no such reserve exists and her state’s allocation of vaccines would remain flat.
“States will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week, because there is no federal reserve of doses,” Brown said in a series of tweets Friday morning. “This is a deception on a national scale. Oregon’s seniors, teachers, all of us, were depending on the promise of Oregon’s share of the federal reserve of vaccines being released to us.”
Northam announced Thursday that Virginia would expand the ages of eligible residents. The decision came after U.S. Health and Human Services officials urged states to give the vaccine to people in lower priority groups. The move followed widespread criticism of the speed at which states have been immunizing their residents over the past month, all while coronavirus cases and deaths continue to climb.
Rather than allowing people 75 and up in the state’s phase 1b, anyone 65 and older would be qualified to receive a coronavirus vaccine, he said. In addition to the broader age group, younger people with underlying health conditions also would move up in line.
But not all localities are out of the initial 1a group of health care workers and long-term care residents, including Hampton Roads. No city or county on the Southside or Peninsula officially has transitioned to that phase, though Chesapeake has dipped its toe in, offering shots to firefighters and teachers.
When vaccines would become available to that group was contingent upon when cities and counties were ready for 1b. Northam had said all Virginians would be in the next phase before the end of January, regardless of where they lived.