The day of registration arrives, when the federal government and states face criticism over vaccine distribution efforts.
Many health systems in the Chicago area say they don’t know when they will get their next vaccine shipments and the city’s mayor is once again blaming the federal government’s mishandling.
The United States surpassed more than 20 million COVID-19 infections just as the pandemic crossed its second calendar year.
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“We have more cases, we have more hospitalizations, we have trips that will generate new rises in January. We now have this new version of the virus that will spread more easily and make our hospitals even fuller,” Dr. Megan Ranney, emergency physician at Brown University.
And that’s in line with the deadliest month of the pandemic, as more than 1,000 Americans a day have died from coronavirus since Dec. 1.
As Indiana ends its deadliest week, city and state officials are expressing concern that vaccine shipments will not arrive as promised and will not be too fast.
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“Chicago has already distributed> 95% of the doses of COVID-19 vaccine it has received. However, at the current federal government dose allocation rate, it would take 71 weeks — almost a year and a half — to be vaccinated. completely the whole city. We need more vaccine. Now, “Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a tweet Saturday.
On Sunday, outgoing President Donald Trump took to Twitter to claim that “the federal government delivers vaccines to states much faster than can be administered.”
The federal government delivers vaccines to states much faster than can be administered.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2021
“This is a logistical failure,” Dr. Ranney.
So far, only about 4.2 million Americans have been vaccinated nationally, which is 79% above the Trump administration’s $ 20 million goal for the new year.
“So it just doesn’t work and no state got it right,” Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said.
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While health systems are working to get their employees and first aiders inoculated as quickly as possible, Will County is asking its residents to register online to streamline the process once the vaccine is more widely available.
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