VP urges faster Ariz. vaccinations

‘Bold with big solutions’: Community centers, mobile units would help speed vaccine delivery, Harris says

As of Wednesday, slightly more than 1% of Arizonans had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and the White House says it wants to help the state do better.

Vice President Kamala Harris and two senior administration officials told The Arizona Republic on Thursday that the American Rescue Plan legislation backed by President Joe Biden’s administration would not only offer economic relief to Arizona, but it would create a national vaccine program that will create community vaccination centers and mobile vaccination units.

They said the program would provide needed support to vaccinate Arizona residents at a more aggressive pace.

“We have the challenge of course of making sure everyone understands that they are safe, that we should take some pride that there are American scientists who actually developed the vaccine and that we want people to get the vaccine as soon as they are able and eligible,” said Harris, who received her second dose of vaccine on Wednesday.

“By getting this bill passed we can then have a national vaccination program, and that is extremely important. You know that in Arizona ... the federal

government has got to support states to do what is necessary to have the infrastructure and the resources and the equipment to make sure that the largest number of people are getting vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

Harris made the remarks during a video conference call with senior Arizona Republic editors and reporters.

As of Wednesday, nearly 80,000 Arizona adults had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and 518,125 doses altogether had been administered. Arizona has a population of 7.4 million.

While Arizona’s recently high number of COVID-19 cases are showing a slight decline, the percent of positive tests remains high at 17% and there are still cases running through nursing homes, said Andy Slavitt, who is the senior adviser for the White House COVID-19 response effort.

The best thing for Arizonans to do right now is to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to make sure that they get vaccinated, Slavitt said. The Biden-Harris administration recently increased vaccine allocations to states by 16% and has provided more transparency about how much each state will be receiving, he said.

“To be candid, while we would certainly like to produce more vaccine more quickly, states also have a significant challenge in making sure that those vaccines can get administered efficiently and equitably,” Slavitt said.

“Right now, the states require a significant amount of help that would come from the American Rescue Plan . ... We are at the beginning of a monumental effort. It has never before been accomplished, but with the vice president’s leadership and the president’s leadership, we are going to be able to vaccinate 100 million Americans in 100 days and hopefully that’s just the beginning and we can do well beyond that.”

The effort to beat back the virus is “not a solo act, it needs to be an orchestra,” Slavitt said.

The states, the federal government and Congress all need to collectively reassure Americans that, “we have their backs,” he said. The states can’t be left to struggle alone and the federal government can’t act alone, either, he said.

“Despite strong efforts by Arizona and local officials to distribute the vaccine, right now just 1% of the population has been fully vaccinated and only 6.5% of people have gotten their first vaccination. So, the American Rescue Plan will help the state accelerate that,” he said. “Vaccines are only useful when they are administered to people. They cannot sit in vials on the shelf.”

How the American Rescue Plan could help

Biden’s coronavirus rescue relief package would help fix problems with vaccine distribution in Arizona and across the U.S., officials told The Republic.

“We are looking at a dire, painful time in our country where there has been extreme loss — loss of life, loss of normalcy, and folks deserve to have their government in a moment of crisis such as this, to step up and rescue those who are in many ways sinking and falling, and give them the support they need,” Harris said.

“We’ve got vaccines. Now we’ve got to make sure we get the vaccines to the people and that we vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, but that requires resources. The American Rescue plan is about saving our country with speed and at scale.”

The plan would provide $20 billion to streamline and expedite the vaccination process and help bring the country closer to herd immunity within just a few months.

“Where there is a failure, we cannot afford to give up,” Harris said. “We can actually do something about it . ... We’ve got to get relief to people as quickly as possible and this bill will do that.”

Now that the plan is in place, Congress needs to act, regardless of their party, Harris said. The American Rescue Plan is needed for the U.S. to show its strength as a nation and to regain credibility around the world, she said.

“We have big problems right now, but we also have the ability to be bold with big solutions,” Harris said. “Think about this: In less than a year, two American companies developed vaccines that are saving lives as we speak. So now we need to show the world that we can distribute those vaccines and do that rapidly, widely and equitably.”