US outlines sweeping plan to provide free vaccines
WASHINGTON — The government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID19 available for free to all Americans, assuming a safe and effective shot is developed, even as top health officials faced questions about political inter ference with virus information reaching the public.
In a report to Congress and an accompanying “playbook” for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or even late this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot. The Pentagon would be involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers would be the ones giving shots.
The whole enterprise faces remaining skepticism. Only about half of Americans said they'd get vaccinated in an Associated Press-NOR C poll taken in May. Since then, questions have only mounted about whether the government is trying to rush treatments and vaccines to help President Donald Trump's reelection chances.
On Wednesday, the Health and Human Services Department announced that political appointee Michael Caputo would take a leave of absence. The news followed revelations that the senior communications official had tried to gain editorial control over scientific publications on COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he contended were hurting the Trump administration.
The director of the
CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield, responding Wednesday before Senate law makers, rejected questions over whether the government's timeline for states to be ready for a vaccine by Nov. 1 was politically motivated.
Redfield told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the “scientific integrity” of his agency's output “has not been compromised and it will not be compromised under my watch.”
He said he was “deeply saddened” by Caputo's accusations that CDC staff were working as a “resistance unit” against the administration.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committee's top Democrat, said political interference had damaged public trust in the government's health information .
“The Trump ad min istration needs to l eave the science to the scientists immediately,” Murray said.
Although Trump asserted Tuesday that a vaccine could be three to four weeks away, Redfield, made clear to Congress that any version available this year would be in “very limited supply.” The shot wouldn't be broadly available to most of the U.S. population until the summer of 2021, he estimated.
Among the highlights of the plan:
•For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available.
• Initially there may be a limited supply of vaccines, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees, and people in vulnerable groups. A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire population.
•The vaccine itself will be free of charge, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration.
•States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans.
•A massive inform ation technology effort will be needed to track who is getting which vaccines and when.