Skip to main content
Press Release

“We Are Going to Have to Build Everything From Scratch”: No Vaccine Distribution Plan in Place as Biden Takes Office

By January 21, 2021No Comments

Biden Administration COVID-19 Czar Jeff Zients: “[It]’s So Much Worse Than We Could Have Imagined.”

States Facing Massive Vaccine Shortages as US Reports Near-Record Deaths

Biden Taking Early Action to Ramp Up Distribution 

President Joe Biden is inheriting a non-existent vaccine distribution program from his predecessor as deaths to coronavirus in the United States are approaching record highs.

Just yesterday, the United States reported well over 4,000 COVID-19 fatalities — increasing the urgency for a robust federal intervention to deliver a life-saving vaccine to the American people. But in the wake of the chaos and miscommunication that were hallmarks of the Trump pandemic response, the Biden Administration is effectively starting from scratch.

President Biden Is Inheriting a Vaccine Disaster From His Predecessor

  • Biden Administration Source On Vaccine Plans: “There Is Nothing For Us To Rework. We Are Going To Have To Build Everything From Scratch.” “Newly sworn in President Joe Biden and his advisers are inheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, sources tell CNN, posing a significant challenge for the new White House… ‘There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,’ one source said.” [CNN, 1/21/21]
  • Jeff Zients, The Biden Administration’s COVID-19 Czar: “What We’re Inheriting… Is So Much Worse Than We Could Have Imagined.” “‘What we’re inheriting from the Trump administration is so much worse than we could have imagined,’ Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 czar, said in a call with reporters Wednesday. ‘We don’t have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.’” [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • States Are Facing Massive Vaccine Shortages As Hospitals Run Out Of Doses And Cancel Appointments. “Biden enters office as states across the country are grappling with massive vaccine shortages. Hospitals and pharmacies have begun to run out, forcing them to cancel first and second dose appointments.”  [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • Officials In Multiple States Are Calling On The Federal Government To Clearly Communicate Dose Allocations Following Silence.  “Officials in states such as California, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, and Arizona this week called on the federal government to not only help facilitate the shipment of additional vaccines but to clearly communicate how many doses they should expect to receive in the coming days. They’ve received no answers, according to six state health officials, all of whom requested to remain anonymous to speak more freely about the issue.”  [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • The Trump Administration’s Vaccine Program Is “More Flawed Than Previously Understood,” Not Allowing For The Quick Movement Of Doses To Distribution Points. “As White House officials begin to strategize on how best to remedy the situation they are finding that the foundation on which the Trump administration built its vaccine distribution program is more flawed than previously understood, according to two individuals involved with vaccine planning. From the accounting to the way vaccines are allocated and scheduled for delivery—the system doesn’t allow for the quick movement of vaccines off the manufacturing line to state vaccine distribution points, those officials said.” [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • The Trump Administration’s Vaccine Program Relies On Tiberius, A Platform For States To Input Doses Orders — But The System May Be Providing Inaccurate Information About Dose Availability And Allocation. “States only had a few weeks to try out the Tiberius platform before the vaccine rollout began in December, officials said, and they were provided false projections on how many doses they would be receiving once the Pfizer vaccine became available. Two state health officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said they believe the Tiberius system is still not accurately updating and is miscounting either how many doses the companies have manufactured or how many have been allocated by the federal government.” [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • The Trump Administration Adjusted Distribution Guidelines To Enhance Demand For THe Vaccine – But Didn’t Provide States With Enough Doses To Keep Up. “Part of the confusion among states is how the newest Trump administration federal guidelines on vaccine distribution have impacted the manufacturing process. The Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Centers for Disease Control, recently released a new set of recommendations that allow states to hand out the vaccine more freely—to widen the population of who can receive the shot in the first wave. The federal government also said it would start to release doses it had originally held in reserve for second-shot dosing. The recommendations almost worked too well—they ramped up demand significantly. Now, states say they don’t have enough doses.”  [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]

States Are Facing a Vaccine Disaster as the United States Reports Near-Record Daily Deaths

  • Bloomberg: NYC Reschedules 23,000 Vaccine Appointments Due To Shortage
  • Politico: States’ New Vaccine Worry: Not Enough Doses
  • The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Seniors, Others Eligible For Coronavirus Vaccine Frustrated By Communication Void, Wait
  • New York Times: Thousands of Vaccine Appointments Canceled As Supply Lags

But the New Administration Is Ready to Get to Work, Taking a Slew of Early Steps to Scale Up Distribution 

  • Biden Will Use The Defense Production Act To Shore Up PPE, Testing And Vaccine Supplies. “Biden’s COVID-19 team says the president will use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ensure that health-care facilities have what they need for personal protective equipment and to continue to scale testing across the country. Officials say Biden will also use the act and ‘other legal authorities’ for ‘raw materials to ensure that bottlenecks do not slow down [vaccine] production,’ Zients said, specifically mentioned the production of syringes as critical to success.”  [Daily Beast, 1/21/21]
  • Biden Plans To Direct FEMA To Fully Reimburse States For Vaccine And Testing Supplies. “Biden plans to sign a memo to direct FEMA to fully reimburse states for vaccination and testing supplies and for the costs of National Guard deployments associated with the pandemic, officials told reporters.” [NPR, 1/21/21]
  • President Biden Will Issue An Executive Order To Enhance Data Sharing, And The CDC Will Maintain A Dashboard Of Real-Time Data On Cases, Testing, And Vaccinations. “President Biden will also issue an executive order to enhance the collection, sharing and analysis of data. As part of that, the CDC will maintain a public dashboard tracking real-time data on Covid-19 cases, testing, vaccinations and hospital admissions at a national and state-level.” [CNN, 1/21/21]