Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that the U.S. government should have done a better job of delivering coronavirus vaccines to its citizens.
About 5.3 million people have been vaccinated so far, although federal officials had promised that 20 million vaccines would be given by the end of 2020. Overall, less than 20 million vaccines have been distributed across the country .
“Obviously there are no excuses. We should have distributed 20 and 20 in people’s arms: for 20, I mean 20 million,” Fauci told the Washington Economic Club for CNN.
“I think we have to wait the first two weeks of January to decide anything about what went wrong, if any.”
Fauci, a longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said starting such an ambitious deployment amid the pandemic and that during the holiday season could have contributed to the delays.
“Again, there are no excuses, but you can explain why you may not have reached the level you want,” Fauci said. “Now, not to apologize, we should have done better. So let’s make it clear.
“We should have done better, but I think we should wait until the second, or third week of January, to see if we can now pick up the original set pace.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar blamed the holiday season for the slow delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
“Pfizer’s vaccine was authorized and could be sent, I think it was December 14, and Moderna’s was authorized and available to be sent on December 21. Of course, you have Christmas and the New Year right there. said Azar during Operation Warp. Speed briefing.
“So while we continue to send, you only have the natural element of human behavior of the holiday season in terms of hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers that can line up people to get vaccinated. That’s also a consequence. normal “.
According to Azar, it has also been a problem to implement the recommendations of disease control and prevention centers to give the first doses of the vaccine to front-line workers and residents of long-term care centers.
“I have encouraged our governors and will continue to do so, if they use all the vaccine that is requested (which is assigned, ordered, distributed, shipped) and put it in the hands of health care providers. All this , it’s fantastic, ”Azar said.
“But if for some reason their distribution is difficult and they have vaccines sitting in the freezers, of course you should be open to people aged 70 or over, over 65, you should make sure that nursing patients home are vaccinated. “
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