Trump’s Vaccine Distribution Plan Falls 90% Short
Not Even Enough Vaccine to Accommodate First Priority Groups in at Least 27 States
Trump Handing Biden Admin Broken Supply Chain While Virus Rages
The Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis has been largely defined by two features: lies and scarcity. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trump has lied about supplies of PPE and tests — even as shortages stunted the United States’ ability to aggressively respond to the pandemic. Now, as the new year looms, Trump’s lies continue to highlight his administration’s failures.
The Trump administration promised the American people that hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine would be available by the end of 2020. But federal officials are slashing the amount of vaccines they now plan to send states, and President-elect Biden is set to inherit a broken supply chain that is hampering the large-scale production of more doses.
A Scarcity of Materials Will Lead to the Distribution of Only a Tenth of the Number of Vaccine Doses That Trump Promised
- 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]
- The 35-40 Million Vaccines That Federal Officials Predict Will Be Available By The End Of December Is Only Enough To Vaccinate 20 Million People. “Federal officials estimate about 40 million vaccines will be available by the end of the month if both Moderna and Pfizer get US Food and Drug Administration authorization — only enough to vaccinate 20 million people, because two doses are needed for each person. But even that number will fall short. Pfizer is only expected to have 6.4 million doses of vaccine ready by mid-December.” [CNN, 12/5/20]
- A CNN Analysis Of 27 States Showed That None Were Receiving Enough Vaccine To Even Accommodate Their First Priority Group. “A CNN analysis of 27 states’ vaccine data showed that none were getting enough vaccine in the first shipment to vaccinate all their first priority group, including health care workers and long-term care residents. CNN was able to confirm the expected size of the first shipment of vaccine for at least 45 states, and the number of people prioritized in at least 27 states.” [CNN, 12/5/20]
- Trump’s Failure To Rectify Issues With The Supply Chain Has Hampered The Ability Of Companies To Scale Up Production Of The Vaccine. “The gap reflects the disconnect between Trump’s campaign promises, as well as the optimistic estimates from some drug companies, and scientific and manufacturing realities. The drop-off is a product of manufacturing problems, bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials and other hurdles in ramping up clinical-trial production of 5 liters of protein-based vaccine at a time to commercial-scale fermentation of 2,000-liter batches, the companies and the Trump administration said.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]
- Pfizer And Moderna Are Struggling To Procure Essential Materials To Begin Large-Scale Production. “As Pfizer began large-scale production, the company said, it encountered difficulties procuring sufficient amounts of raw ingredients. A number of specialized materials are required to create the vaccine, including nucleotides, the building block of the mRNA… Moderna’s vaccine supply chain depends critically on the availability and high quality of each component, including the lipids used to encapsulate the mRNA, bags and laboratory equipment used in production, the chemical components of mRNA itself and enzymes.” [Washington Post, 12/5/20]