State gets boost from Biden’s virus plan
President moves to increase supply of vaccines, testing sites and to reimburse states for expenses
As COVID-19 vaccine programs in the Bay Area and beyond face shortages, delays and confusion, President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out a national strategy to attack the pandemic and get more shots in arms.
In his first full day in office, which also marked the one-year anniversary of the first U.S.-confirmed case of the coronavirus,
Biden signed 10 executive orders and directives, unveiled his detailed, 198-page COVID-19 strategy and brought Dr. Anthony Fauci — the country’s top infectious disease expert — back into the national spotlight.
The president moved Thursday to ramp up the nation’s supply of vaccines and personal pro
tective equipment, increase testing sites, reimburse states for vaccine expenses and expand outreach to underserved communities, also mandating that people wear masks while traveling. The actions prompted a sigh of relief from many health experts and politicians in California, where efforts to vaccinate residents have faced frustrating hiccups.
“Everything I saw him doing, I thought, yes, this is something we should have been doing a while back,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, professor emeritus of infectious disease and vaccinology with the UC BerkeleyUCSF Joint Medical Program.
Via executive order, Biden implemented the Defense Production Act to compel companies to make personal protective equipment and supplies needed to administer vaccines. He approved federal reimbursements for states’ pandemic and vaccination spending. Biden promised to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up 100 community vaccination centers within the next month. He vowed to work more closely with governors, mayors and other local officials on the “front lines” of the vaccine rollout and tasked FEMA with developing a liaison for every state to report on local progress fighting the virus. And he promised to expand the pool of medical professionals authorized to give vaccines.
While sticking to his previously announced goal to administer 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, Biden acknowledged the road ahead will be tough. More than 400,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 so far, and Biden said he expects the death toll to top 500,000 by next month.
“Let me be very clear: Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better,” he said. “But let me be equally clear: We will get through this. We will defeat this pandemic. And to a nation waiting for action, let me be the clearest on this point: Help is on the way.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Biden’s strategy on Twitter, calling it “a plan based on science — not politics.” The governor plans to unveil a pilot program this week that will help counties and cities schedule vaccine appointments and notify residents of their eligibility, CalMatters reported.
Biden’s actions come as California’s recent surge in infections has started to slow, and hospitalizations are down. But after 21 days, January is already the state’s deadliest month. At the same time, California has been slower than most other states in the country in vaccinating residents, counties have reported shortages of doses, and older residents have complained of confusion and hourslong wait times just to make appointments.
Vaccine efforts got a boost this week when the state Department of Public Health gave the all-clear for counties to resume using Moderna injections that had been suspended because a handful of people in San Diego needed medical care after receiving the shots.
The move freed up 21,800 doses in Santa Clara County and prevented San Francisco from running out of vaccines Thursday as officials initially feared.
As of Tuesday, San Francisco had vaccinated less than 4% of its population with at least one dose of the two-dose vaccine. Contra Costa County had vaccinated 5%. In Alameda County, law enforcement agencies on Thursday called on health officials to vaccinate their officers.
“Oakland Police Officers have been testing positive for COVID-19 and getting sick at high rates,” Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, wrote in a news release. “Sixty-two Oakland Police Officers have tested positive (for) COVID-19 but calls to county health to administer the vaccine to these first responders go unanswered.”
The measures Biden unveiled Thursday will help the overall effort, Swartzberg said, particularly by opening new vaccine sites and invoking the Defense Production Act to solve equipment shortages.
“That’s the kind of thing that needs to be done,” he said. “States need help with this.”
Biden also emphasized the need to address the disparities in Black and Latinx communities, which have disproportionately high case and death rates and have suffered more economically than White communities. He formally established his previously announced COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, which will guide funding and the allocation of resources to communities hit particularly hard by the virus. A major focus, Biden said, will be on gaining the trust of groups hesitant to get the vaccine.
Fauci echoed that sentiment.
“The concern I have, and something we’re working on, is people who have vaccine hesitancy and don’t want to get vaccinated,” he said Thursday. “Because many people are skeptical about that. So we really need to do a lot of good outreach.”
Dr. Arthur Reingold, division head of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC Berkeley, was enthusiastic about Biden’s approach, but he cautioned that the problems with the vaccine rollout won’t be fixed in a day or two.
“It’s not going to magically change things overnight,” he said. “There’s just a lot of work to be done.”