The Biden administration is resisting calls to modify its vaccine distribution strategy, as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some states and call for delays elsewhere.
Several prominent health experts as well as the governor of Michigan. Gretchen Whitmer
Gretchen Whitmer Overnight Health Care: White House Rejects Call to Send More Doses of Vaccine to Certain States | White House warns states expecting low weekly J&J vaccine shipments, and White House rejects call to send more doses of vaccine to certain states Bipartisan lawmakers urge Biden to send more vaccines to Michigan in mid-rise (D) and members of the state congressional delegation have been calling on the Biden administration to send additional doses of vaccine to its state amid a worrying rise in cases and hospitalizations.
On Friday, however, the White House rejected Michigan’s request, saying it did not want to take any doses of vaccine from other parts of the country. The current White House vaccine distribution strategy is based on population, not hotspots.
The situation highlights disparities between states, although while Michigan calls for more vaccine doses amid an increase, other states have thousands of unfulfilled appointments.
Mississippi, for example, had more than 70,000 appointments available Thursday, The New York Times reported.
Whitmer said he would continue to push for a surge in vaccine doses for his condition, after unsuccessfully making the case in a phone call with President Biden
Joe BidenBiden contacts California occupational safety leader to lead OSHA Romney exploits end of filibuster, expansion of SCOTUS cash payments in the United States to help curb migration MORE Thursday night.
“I advocated an increase strategy,” Whitmer said at a news conference Friday. “Right now, this isn’t unfolding, but I’m not giving up.”
He said the strategy should be the deployment of vaccine doses to be “crushing where the hot spots are.”
While Michigan is by far the most affected state right now, Whitmer said other states may soon be in a position to need to request more doses as well. Other hot spots are mostly in the northeast, including New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
The White House said it would offer additional staff to other states so affected, in addition to Michigan, but did not specify which ones, saying talks are ongoing.
“Today is Michigan and Midwest, tomorrow could be another part of our country,” Whitmer said.
The White House said Friday it will send additional staff to help with vaccinations to states as affected as Michigan, as well as additional testing capabilities and treatments.
Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, called in additional staff to help be vaccinated in the midst of rising Michigan in cases as a sign that the Biden administration is “finally being taken seriously,” saying “this is being prepared” for a few weeks.
Like other states, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that there is a significant gap between the doses administered in Michigan and the number actually administered, meaning there is room for the state to intensify vaccinations until all without further dose, Topol said.
But in general terms, he said they would also make more sense for hot spots instead of the current formula, which is based primarily on population.
“The population makes no sense,” he said. “It’s where it’s needed.”
Jeff Zients
Jeff Zients Night Health Care: White House Rejects Call to Send More Doses of Vaccine to Certain States | White House warns states expecting low weekly J&J vaccine shipments White House warns states expecting low weekly J&J vaccine shipments White House rejects call to send more doses of vaccine to certain states MORE, the White House coordinator for the COVID-19 response, on Friday defended the population-based formula, saying the country needs vaccines and the administration did not want to change more doses to hot spots like Michigan.
“There are tens of millions of people across the country in every state and county who have not yet been vaccinated,” Zients said. “And the fair and equitable way of distributing the vaccine is based on the adult population by state, tribe and territory. This has been done and we will continue to do so. ”
“The virus is unpredictable,” he added. “We don’t know where the next increase in cases may occur.”
As most states have opened up vaccine eligibility for all adults, the problem in some parts of the country is beginning to shift toward supply that exceeds demand and not the other way around.
“As demand starts to loosen, that’s why we’re going to try to get people working in factories, that’s why we’re going to go into churches and all that other stuff,” the Ohio governor said. Mike DeWine
Vaccine doses Mike DeWine Johnson and Johnson will drop significantly next week TV host and guard Jack Hanna diagnosed with dementia Here’s who is eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in each state MORE He said (R) at a press conference on Thursday.
Polls show Republicans are more resistant to the vaccine than the general population. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in late March found that 29% of Republicans said they would “definitely” not get the vaccine, compared to 13% of people in general.
Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellRomney launches end of filibuster, SCOTUS expansion McConnell, GOP declares Biden’s executive order to SCOTUS Overnight Defense: Biden proposes 3B defense budget | Criticism comes from the left and the right | The Pentagon is moving toward a new projection of MORE extremists (Ky.) He has been urging his party members to get vaccinated.
“As a Republican, as soon as it hit me, I got the vaccine,” he said in late March at an event in Kentucky. “I encourage all Republican men to do so.”
As vaccinations progress, new cases remain relatively stable nationally, albeit at a high level of about 65,000 daily. In Michigan, however, cases are on the rise, as are hospitalizations, which have gone from about 850 in early March to more than 3,000, according to data compiled by The New York Times.
The continuation of the toll of the virus, even with the available vaccines, highlights the need to put them in arms as soon as possible.
“The biggest tragedy right now is that we have vaccines on hand that can prevent hospitalizations and death, and when we see an increase, it makes sense that we should act quickly to prevent that from happening,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a person great scholar of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “And so if some states are fighting more than others, I think it makes sense for them to have additional vaccines.”