The coronavirus vaccine will not be widely available in U.S. pharmacies by the end of February, as previously promised, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
“As part of our plan, we will introduce the vaccine in pharmacies. Will it be in all pharmacies in this country according to this chronology? I don’t think so, ”Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on the“ Today Show ”program.
“I don’t think by the end of February, we’ll get vaccines at every pharmacy in this country.”
In mid-December, Trump administration Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar told CNBC: “I think in late February and late March, of course, depending on the decisions of our governors, but I think we will have enough supply to reach the general public to manage it (CVS, Walgreens, Kroegers) by the end of February and March. ”
Walensky reiterated the Biden administration’s commitment to distribute 100 million doses in the first 100 days and said it will work to accelerate and smooth the production and distribution of life-saving shots.
“After 100 days, there are still a lot of Americans who need a vaccine, so we have our pedal up to the metal to make sure we can get that much vaccine,” he said. “We recognize that this is the most immediate emergency to reclaim this country.”
He said CDC officials had been working for weeks to make sure “vaccine eligibility meets supply” and that there are enough medical workers at the inoculation sites.
“All the foundations of the way we do vaccine deployment have to be based on equity and we are committed to it,” he added.
In early December, an official from Operation Trump’s Warp Speed said he expected to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of February.
“Between mid-December and late February, we will have potentially immunized 100 million people,” Moncef Slaoui, the operation’s scientific adviser, said at the time.
As of Thursday, the United States had administered 17.5 million doses of vaccine, according to the CDC.