Public health experts on Thursday blamed the shortage of COVID-19 vaccine shortages in the United States in part on the Trump administration’s push to get states to greatly expand their vaccination actions to 54 million. of people in the nation aged 65 or over.
The push that began more than a week ago was not accompanied by enough doses to meet demand, according to state and local officials, which caused frustration and confusion and limited the ability of states to attack the outbreak that killed more than 400,000 Americans.
In recent days, authorities in California, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and Hawaii have warned that their supplies are running low. New York City began canceling or postponing firings or stopped making new appointments due to the shortage, which President Joe Biden has promised would turn around.
The deployment of vaccines so far has been “a major disappointment,” said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translation Institute.
The problems began with the Trump administration’s “fatal mistake” of not ordering enough vaccine, which was ripped off by other countries, Topol said. Then opening the line to the elderly caused disappointment because there was not enough vaccine, he said. The Trump administration also left crucial planning to states and did not provide the necessary funding.
“It doesn’t go through fairy dust,” Topol said. “Funds need to be dedicated to it.”
Last week, before Biden took over as president, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested that the frustration was the result of unrealistic expectations from states about the amount of vaccine that was on the way.
But some public health experts said states have not obtained reliable information on vaccine administrations and that the amounts sent to them are unpredictable. This, in turn, has made it difficult for them to plan how to inoculate people.
“It’s a bit like having to build it as we move forward,” said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s a front-run supply problem, and unless you know the amount of vaccine going down the pipe, it’s hard to get these things right, have staff, get people there, get vaccinated, and leave. “.
State health secretaries have asked the Biden administration for earlier and more reliable predictions about vaccine delivery, said Dr. Umair Shah, Washington state health secretary.
Dr. Marcus Plescia, of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, was also one of those who said that the opening of vaccinations to the elderly was done too soon, before the supply could recover. .
“We needed constant federal leadership at the start of the launch,” Plescia said. “That didn’t happen, and now that we don’t prioritize groups, there will be some delay so that supply can catch up with demand.”
Supply will increase over the next few weeks, he said. Deliveries are made to the states every week, and the government and drug manufacturers have assured that there are large quantities in preparation.
The launch has proceeded at a disappointing pace. The U.S. government has administered about 38 million doses of vaccine to states and about 17.5 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Approximately 2.4 million people have received the two necessary doses, according to the CDC count, far less than the hundreds of millions that will need to be inoculated to beat the outbreak.
Biden, in one of his first business orders, signed 10 executive orders Thursday to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including one that expands the use of the Defense Production Act to expand vaccine production. The 1950 Korean War Act allows the government to direct the manufacture of critical goods.
He also ordered masks for travel, including at airports and planes, ships, trains, buses, and public transportation, and ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish vaccination centers and for the CDC to put vaccines in pharmacies. from next month.
Biden has promised to dispense 100 million shots in its first 100 days.
“We will move heaven and earth to vaccinate more people for free,” he said.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have called for more doses. Appointments through Sunday for the first dose of vaccine at 15 community vaccination centers set up by the city’s health department have been postponed to next week.
Vaccinations in New York have not stopped, but the demand for shots far exceeds the number of doses available, the mayor said.
“It’s tremendously sad that we have so many people who want the vaccine and so much ability to administer it, what’s going on?” deia de Blasio. “For lack of supply, we actually have to cancel appointments.”
Rosa Schneider had missed the opportunity to make a vaccination appointment once she learned that educators like her were eligible in New York. A high school English teacher who lives in New York City but works in New Jersey said a day before she was vaccinated Wednesday at a city hospital she received a call to say the supply is ‘had run out and the appointment has been canceled.
“I was worried and upset,” Schneider, 32, said, but she tries to book another appointment daily. He hopes availability will improve in the coming weeks.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.