President Biden faces pressure to further target his administration’s vaccine distribution targets, and experts noted that his first push to deliver 100 million shots in 100 days does not differ dramatically from the current pace.
The new administration has slammed its vaccine target as “ambitious” and “bold”. But a vocal group of experts says Biden’s goal is actually much lower than what is needed to domesticate the pandemic, especially with more contagious variants on the rise.
“100 million shots means 50 million people,” said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, as the two vaccines currently available require two doses. “This is totally inappropriate.”
One of the most contagious variants found in the UK for the first time could be the dominant strain in the United States in March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which send even higher cases and put more stress on hospitals. . This makes faster vaccinations earlier even more urgent.
“This is really the urgency that people don’t understand,” Topol said.
Biden officials have stressed that they will not stop getting vaccinated if they reach the target within 100 days, so it is possible that the target will be exceeded. However, experts say the goal still matters and that the main focus should be on 24/7 vaccine delivery.
In part, the new administration is trying to set expectations that the pandemic won’t turn around immediately and is trying to portray the Trump administration as if it has left little to work on in the vaccination effort.
“What we inherit is much worse than we could imagine,” Jeff Zients
Jeff ZientsBiden pressured to make more shots of COVID-19 Fauci: “Let’s not start from scratch” in the distribution of vaccines These are the executive orders that Biden has signed in the first three days in office MORE, He said Wednesday in a call to reporters, coordinator of the response to Biden’s coronavirus.
Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciNightcare – Fauci: Lack of Facts ‘Probably’ Costed Life in Fighting Coronavirus | CDC changes COVID-19 vaccine guidelines to allow infrequent mixing of Pfizer shots, Modern | Senate chaos threatens to slow down Biden Fauci’s agenda enraged by threats to family Poll: Plurality of voters says coronavirus vaccine deployment slower than expected MORE, the government’s top infectious disease expert, told reporters Thursday that the new administration “amplifies” what the Trump administration did through a more active federal role, but “sure we don’t start from scratch.”
The Trump administration called on experts for putting too much responsibility on states over the last mile to get gunfire without enough federal support and for not providing clear enough information about how much vaccine it would get and when.
However, despite problems with the initial launch, the pace of vaccinations in the United States had already risen to near the target of Biden setting 1 million shots a day even before his administration took over. . The United States made an average of 911,000 daily shots on January 19, according to data collected by Our World in Data, not far from the desired Biden brand.
“Don’t let the media and Democratic politicians turn in a different way,” she received. Steve Scalise
Stephen (Steve) Joseph Scalise The inauguration of Biden marked by a conflict of hope and fear led Scalise to bring Donna Brazile as a guest to the legislator of the presidency of the House of Biden: Trump “put all our lives at risk” MONTH (La.), The Republican Whip of the House, he tweeted Thursday. “Biden’s vaccination plan is Trump’s vaccination plan. The United States was already on track for 100 million doses in 100 days. “
Paul Offit, a vaccination expert at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, said the U.S. could need about 250 million people to get vaccinated to get herd immunity, when there is enough immune population for the virus to slow drastically. .
“For a two-dose vaccine, it’s 500 million doses, so when you talk about giving a million doses a day, we’re probably better off with about 3 million doses a day if we can get there,” he said. “One million doses a day is not enough to get there quickly.”
Biden began defending himself on Thursday when a reporter asked him if 100 million shots were enough in 100 days, as the United States is already almost on pace to achieve that goal.
“When I announced it, you all said it wasn’t possible,” Biden said. “Come on. Give me a break, man. It’s a good start, 100 million.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiBiden, under pressure to produce more COVID-19 shots. Biden and Trudeau agree to meet next month. Democrats are seeking answers to the impact of the Russian cyberattack on the Justice Department on Friday, he said there is always room to exceed the target, but a number of headwinds were noted, including vaccination hesitation and supply problems.
“If we overcome that, that’s fine,” he said. “We will also continue to work after day 100.”
The Biden administration is taking several steps to increase federal support for the vaccination effort, regardless of the goal set. Biden signed an order to make more full use of the Defense Production Act to require companies to increase the manufacture of vaccine supplies.
One area of focus is to increase the supply of special syringes that can extract an additional dose of vaccine that is in some vials, thus increasing the number of doses available.
The administration also plans to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to create federally-targeted vaccination sites, targeting 100 sites in the first month.
There are also questions about how many doses of vaccine will be available. Pfizer and Moderna have pledged to have 100 million doses for the United States by the end of March, twice as many as needed to meet Biden’s goal, although manufacturing problems are likely to reduce those numbers.
Officials hope a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, could be authorized in the coming weeks, which would provide additional supply.
But Biden administration officials said they are still trying to figure out what the supply situation is and that they do not have exact projections from manufacturers.
The new administration also seeks to improve communication with state leaders, who have complained that the Trump team has not given them information about their assignments well in advance to plan properly.
Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s School of Public Health TH Chan, has said the clock is ticking, given the spread of more contagious variants.
“They stress the real need to continue to accelerate the launch as much as possible,” he said. “Because to some extent it’s a race between a more contagious virus and our ability to protect people.”