Federal officials launch vaccine pilot program
WASHINGTON – After months of remaining vague about its plans to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, the Trump administration is quietly piloting distribution working groups, CQ Roll Call has learned.
The plan, which is not yet public, was confirmed by four state health departments.
Federal officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pentagon and the administration’s Operation Warp Speed initiative plan to conduct site visits and develop “model approaches” for other states based on what they learn, according to a CDC description of the project shared exclusively with CQ Roll Call. The states involved include California, Florida, North Dakota and Minnesota.
The start of vaccine distribution plans come amid calls by public health experts for a national strategy. Distributing any authorized vaccines effectively will be crucial to stemming the coronavirus pandemic. Normal life can’t begin to resume in the United States until a large proportion of residents are immune.
Public health advocates say they’re worried that
U.S. immunization could resemble the dysfunction of state-by-state testing standards or the chaotic distribution of personal protective equipment.
A plan is needed to make the vaccine widely available, including to people who lack insurance, and convince skeptics to trust vaccines tested with unprecedented speed that may not have full Food and Drug Administration approval. The logistics of shipping and providing vaccines under precise conditions, managing potential supply chain shortages, monitoring patients, and ensuring equity will be complicated.
Democrats in the House and Senate who oversee health issues have pressured the Trump administration for a plan.
“Alarmingly, in the absence of a comprehensive plan, the Administration appears to be making decisions without the critical input of public health partners or consideration for the existing infrastructure the nation has long relied upon for the allocation, distribution, and tracking of vaccines,” Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote in an Aug. 5 letter. The letter lamented that the public has “yet to be informed about how the Administration intends to ensure the equitable distribution of a vaccine.”
CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Nancy Messonnier held the first call with state immunization programs last week and announced the CDC would begin a “micro-planning” stage, according to a source on the call and a Democratic congressional aide.
Molly Howell, immunization program manager with the North Dakota Department of Health, confirmed that the state is one of the sites.
“We’re talking through plans to distribute and administer a COVID-19 vaccine, where we may have gaps and where we’re doing well, in preparation for it,” Howell said.
Howell said the working group would discuss how to distribute an eventual vaccine to long-term care facilities, pharmacies, Indian Health Service facilities, and other locations.
California, Florida and Minnesota confirmed participation as well.
“We are not in a position to talk about this, since it’s essentially in very, very early stages. Thus far, we have been asked to THINK about how a vaccine distribution plan might look. Nothing else has been done at this point,” Julie Bartkey, a Minnesota Department of Health spokesperson, said in an email.
“California has been selected for a joint planning mission and will work with a multiagency federal team, including staff from the CDC and the Department of Defense, to plan and prepare for COVID-19 vaccination response in California,” the state health department said in a statement.