Biden Warns That Trump Admin Has “No Detailed Plan” to Get People Vaccinated
Trump Falling Short By Eye Popping 90% On Vaccine Promise
Inadequate Funding Allocated to Large-Scale Deployment of Vaccine
States Receiving Only a Fraction of Doses Needed to Inoculate Frontline Workers
As Donald Trump continues to baselessly claim that the United States is “rounding the turn” on a pandemic that is infecting hundreds of thousands of Americans daily and overwhelming hospitals in every corner of the country, those preparing for the distribution of a vaccine are facing a completely different reality on the ground.
According to President-elect Biden, the Trump administration lacks a detailed plan to get the vaccine to states. Hospital systems in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas are warning that their timeline for inoculation of front-line workers is later than Operation Warp Speed seems to think. Little funding has been set aside for efforts to deploy the vaccine. And states are reporting that they are scheduled to receive only a fraction of the doses needed to protect their frontline workers. As the virus accelerates and President-elect Biden prepares to take office, the plan to vaccinate millions of Americans is in shambles.
Trump’s Failure to Implement a Coherent Vaccine Distribution Plan Is Creating Confusion for States and Hospitals
- President-Elect Biden On Trump’s Vaccine Distribution Plan: “There Is No Detailed Plan.” “The president-elect has criticized the Trump administration’s vaccine rollout plan and said he’s seen no detailed plan to distribute a vaccine to states. ‘There is no detailed plan that we’ve seen, anyway, as to how you get the vaccine out of a container, into an injection syringe, into somebody’s arm,’ Biden said in Delaware last week.” [CNBC, 12/6/20]
- Hospital Systems In California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas Are Warning That They Won’t Be Ready For Vaccine Distribution In December. “Leaders of Operation Warp Speed have repeatedly said they are on track to vaccinate 20 million people in December, enough for nearly all the health care workers and long-term care residents who are first in line to get a vaccine. But those involved in vaccine planning at four health care systems, in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas, told STAT they expect to still be giving staff their first shots in mid-January. These workers would then receive their second vaccine dose three to four weeks later, depending on the vaccine, and would receive the full immunization effects a week after that, in mid-February.” [STAT News, 12/7/20]
- Operation Warp Speed Has Announced Partnerships With Pharmacies To Help Distribute The Vaccine — But Those Pharmacies Are Not Evenly Distributed And Some Areas May Not Be Able To Access Them. “Operation Warp Speed recently announced that Walgreens and CVS would help distribute vaccines to long-term care residents, but these pharmacies are not evenly distributed across the United States. ‘We don’t have either of those organizations anywhere near our service area,’ said [executive director of pharmacy services at St. Croix Regional Medical Center Anita] Lundquist. ‘I don’t logistically know if that private sector is going to be able to provide that [distribution].’ Nursing homes also have the option to partner with local pharmacies, but these are unlikely to have the necessary staff or storage resources.” [STAT News, 12/7/20]
- Some Rural Facilities Might Struggle To Keep The Pfizer Vaccine At Ultra-Cold Temperatures. “Access is an added challenge for Pfizer’s vaccine, which needs to be kept at ultra-cold temperatures… Some rural facilities were struggling to get hold of dry ice, which is used to keep the vaccines at proper temperatures. ‘We don’t know to what extent we’re going to need to source the dry ice, whether it would be us individually or whether it will be the state health department,’ said [Jason Belden, director of emergency preparedness at the California Association of Health Facilities].” [STAT News, 12/7/20]
- Only A Tenth Of The 300 Million Doses That Trump Promised Would Be Available By The End Of 2020 Are Projected To Be Available This Year. “Instead of the delivery of 300 million or so doses of vaccine immediately after emergency-use approval and before the end of 2020 as the Trump administration had originally promised, current plans call for availability of around a tenth of that, or 35 to 40 million doses.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]
Inadequate Funding Has Been Allocated Towards the Deployment of a Vaccine, Which Could Cost Billions
- Only $340 Million Has Been Allocated To A Vaccine Distribution Effort That Is Projected To Cost Several Billion. “Public health experts say state and local governments are underfunded and unprepared for what is expected to be the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. While the Trump administration has spent more than $10 billion supporting the development of COVID-19 vaccines, just $340 million has been allocated to agencies below the federal level to help with distribution efforts that will cost anywhere from $6 billion to $13.3 billion, according to various estimates.” [The Hill, 12/5/20]
- Adriane Casalotti, Chief Of Government And Public Affairs At The National Association Of County And City Health Officials: “To Not Have Put A Single Dime Toward Deployment Of [A Vaccine] Is A Real Disservice.” “‘We knew vaccines would be in development, so it’s not a surprise we would need to build up the deployment system. Now we could be weeks away from the first doses going out, and we really haven’t invested in any of that work,’ said Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). ‘Things could have been done earlier without having to reach this level of emergency,’ she added. ‘To not have put a single dime toward deployment of it is a real disservice.’” [The Hill, 12/5/20]
- Mitch McConnell Hasn’t Committed To Increasing Funding For Vaccine Distribution Efforts. “[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi came down from her previous $2.2 trillion starting point to support a framework based off a recently introduced bipartisan, bicameral measure totaling $900 billion that includes $16 billion for vaccine development, distribution, testing and contact tracing. McConnell, however, distanced himself from that framework and has instead stuck to his early $500 billion proposal. It’s not clear how much of that would go to vaccine distribution efforts, but a previous bill from the GOP leader allocated $6 billion for those efforts.” [The Hill, 12/5/20]
States Are Not Receiving Enough Vaccine to Accommodate Even Their First Priority Groups
- Despite Having 2.4 Million Health Care Workers, California Is Only Receiving 327,000 Doses Of The Vaccine To Start With. “California must vaccinate 2.4 million healthcare workers first and Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this week that the state is only receiving 327,000 doses of the vaccine from Pfizer to start with. Since that covers just a fraction of the healthcare workers needed to get vaccinated, Newsom said Thursday the state would be trimming its list of top priority group of healthcare workers even further to decide who gets vaccinated first.” [CNN, 12/5/20]
- Maine Governor Janet Mills: “This Is Far Less Than What Is Needed For Maine And Proportionally For Other States As Well.” “Maine, meanwhile, saw its allotment fall from a previous estimate of 36,000 to just 12,675 doses, officials in the state said. ‘This is far less than what is needed for Maine and proportionally for other states as well,’ Gov. Janet Mills (D) said at a news conference this past week.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]
- Maine’s Allotment Of Vaccine Doses Has Fallen By Roughly Two-Thirds, Which “Would Barely Enable [The State] To Vaccinate Emergency Department And ICU Front Line Staff.” “In Maine, the current proposed allotment ‘would barely enable us to vaccinate emergency department and ICU front line staff,’ said Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and president-elect of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Maine has about 6,000 emergency department and intensive-care front line staff who would meet the criteria to be vaccinated in the initial round, state officials said.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]
- Maine’s Allotment Of Vaccine Doses Has Fallen By Roughly Two-Thirds, Which “Would Barely Enable [The State] To Vaccinate Emergency Department And ICU Front Line Staff.” “In Maine, the current proposed allotment ‘would barely enable us to vaccinate emergency department and ICU front line staff,’ said Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and president-elect of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Maine has about 6,000 emergency department and intensive-care front line staff who would meet the criteria to be vaccinated in the initial round, state officials said.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]
- Montana Is Receiving Only A Fraction Of The Amount Of Vaccine Needed To Accommodate Health Care Workers. “Montana is only receiving around 9,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the first shipment when it has more than 40,000 healthcare workers to vaccinate before moving on to the rest of the state’s population.” [CNN, 12/5/20]
- Alabama Is Receiving Less Than Half Of The Pfizer Vaccine Than They Were Initially Promised. “Alabama is receiving far less of the Pfizer vaccine than they were first promised from the initial shipment. Instead of their first shipment being 112,000 doses from Pfizer, the state will receive 40,950 doses, according to Alabama Department of Public Health Officer Karen Landers. The state has designated 300,000 health care workers and 22,000 residents of long-term care facilities as among the highest priority group to be vaccinated.” [CNN, 12/5/20]
- Kentucky Doctor Nichelle Jadhav: “People Are Very Disappointed To Not Be Included To Get The Vaccine.” “Governor Andy Beshear laid out Kentucky’s plan for the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines. They’ll go to healthcare workers and residents and staff in long-term care facilities. Eleven hospitals were selected, including UK Hospital and Baptist Health Lexington. Doctor Nichelle Jadhav works at one of the many Kentucky hospitals that isn’t part of the initial distribution for the Pfizer vaccine. ‘People are very disappointed to not be included to get the vaccine,’ she said. The state’s first shipment will include more than 38,000 doses. About 26,000 will go to residents and staff in long-term care facilities and the remaining 12,000 will be distributed to healthcare workers in 11 hospitals.” [WYMT, 12/6/20]