Amid surge, Biden to speed vaccine release
WASHINGTON — With COVID-19 raging and vaccinations off to a slowstart, President-elect Joe Biden will rapidly release most available vaccine doses to protect more people, his office said Friday, a reversal of Trump administration policies.
“The president-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccinewhile continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible,“spokesman T. J. Ducklo said in a statement.
Biden “supports releasing available doses immediately, and believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supply sowe can get more shots in Americans’ arms now.”
Biden’s plan isn’t about cutting two-dose vaccines in half, a strategy top government scientists recommend against. Instead, it would accelerate shipment of first doses and use the levers of government power to provide required second doses in a timely manner.
The Trump administration has been holding back millions of doses of vaccine to guarantee people can get a second shot, which provides maximum protection against COVID-19.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require a second shot after the first vaccination. One-shot vaccines still are undergoing testing.
A recent scientific analysis in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine estimated a “flexible” approach roughly analogous to what Biden is talking about could avert an additional 23 percent to 29 percent of COVID-19 cases when compared to the “fixed” strategy the Trump administration is following. That’s assuming a steady supply of vaccine.
After a glow of hope when the first vaccines were approved last month, the nation’s inoculation campaign has gotten off to a slow start.
Of 21.4 million doses distributed, about 5.9 million have been administered, or just under 28 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Biden has indicated his displeasure with the progress of vaccinations.
“The way it is being done now is very, very sad,” he said at his news conference Friday.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” has delivered vaccines to the states, he said, “but did not get them from those vials into people’s arms,” Biden continued. “And so it is a gigantic logistical concern of how we do that.”
Biden says he intends to speed vaccinations by having the federal government deliver more vaccines and taking a stronger role in ensuring that they’re being administered.
The American Hospital Association estimates the nation would need to vaccinate 1.8 million people a day, every day, from Jan. 1 to May 31 — about 75 percent of the population — to reach “herd immunity” by the summer.
Biden has set a goal of administering 100 million shots in the first 100 days of his administration.
He has said that he and VicePresident elect Kamala Harris have been talking with state and local leaders about an approach thatmeshes the efforts of governments at all levels.
Among the specifics: opening up vaccination centers and sending mobile vaccine units to hardto-reach communities.
“The top thing is that there’s not a coordinated national plan,” Biden adviser Rick Bright said.
Bright headed a government biodefense agency until his ouster last year inwhat he sayswas retaliation for warning the Trump administration that the nation was unprepared for a pandemic.