The United States has entered a complicated phase of the COVID-19 vaccination effort as providers try to increase the number of people receiving the first vaccines while ensuring that an increasing number of others get fair second doses. when millions more Americans are eligible to receive vaccines.
The need to give each person two doses a few weeks apart greatly complicates the country’s largest vaccination campaign. And persistent uncertainty about the supply of future vaccines fuels concern that some people may not be able to get their second shots on time.
In some cases, local health departments and providers have said they must temporarily halt or even cancel appointments for the first doses to ensure there are enough second doses for people who need them.
Nola Rudolph said she struggled to book appointments for her 71-year-old father and 68-year-old mother, who live in rural New York City. Everywhere I looked within driving distance I was booked.
“Seeing that they were eligible, I was glad,” he said. “Seeing that they were in a dead zone, I went from very hopeful to desperate again.”
He was able to arrange a second dose for his father, but has not yet been able to find a slot for his mother. “It’s like going around in a circle.”
For about the past month, the United States has administered an average of 900,000 first doses each day, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed by The Associated Press. Now many of these people have to show up for second doses and the average number of Americans receiving second shots reached Tuesday’s all-time high: 539,000 per day over the past week.
The growing demand for second doses comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to increase the supply of doses.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients announced Tuesday that states will see their dose allocation increase to 11 million weekly starting next week, an increase of more than 2 million weekly doses since that President Joe Biden took office.
Since the vaccine was authorized in late December, some 33 million people in the U.S. have been shot.
“It’s really important and critical to recognize that there are still not enough doses to circulate,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
To date, approximately 10% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Approximately 3% have received both doses, according to AP analysis.
Across Los Angeles County, health officials say the limited supply is that most vaccinations this week will be done for second doses. In Napa County in the state, some appointments for the first doses were canceled last week to ensure there would be enough for the second.
“We’re getting a lot of questions from community members asking,‘ Is my second dose in jeopardy? “And right now we have no answer because it all depends on the inventory that comes from the state,” said Alfredo Pedroza, the county’s supervisor.
The two COVID-19 vaccines distributed in the United States require two shots a few weeks apart to maximize protection. For Pfizer, doses are supposed to be three weeks apart. For Moderna, it’s four weeks. But if necessary, the reinforcement will be delayed by up to six weeks, according to the CDC, which updated its guidelines late last month.
State and local health officials now stress the extended time period in public messaging to alleviate concerns that people may not receive their second shots on time.
Federal officials have said they are confident there will be enough doses to ensure people get their second shots.
Feeding worries in some places is the difficulty of reserving the second dose. While many sites schedule reinforcement when the first shot is fired, others ask people to schedule them later due to logistical issues.
Tanny O’Haley is 64 years old and has Parkinson’s, but does not meet the requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles County, where she lives. He was able to get a first dose when he accompanied his 69-year-old wife to the vaccination because the site had a surplus shot.
O’Haley has not been able to schedule his second dose despite numerous calls to local officials and the county health department. He plans to try again when he takes his wife to his second date on Wednesday.
“The whole experience was pretty awful,” O’Haley said.
In New Hampshire, officials are abandoning the current scheduling system after thousands of people had problems to book their reinforcements within the recommended time, and some meet for two months later. Now people will get appointments for their second shots when they have the first one.
New Hampshire is one of several local jurisdictions that had registered to use the CDC or VAMS vaccine management system.
At the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada, another type of scheduling problem arose last week when the site opened as a second-dose clinic. When the appointments became available online, people eager for the first doses withdrew the open spaces.
“We had enough vaccine, we just have to control people somehow,” said JoAnn Rupiper of the Southern Nevada Health District.
People who scheduled a first dose at the site had their appointments canceled, Rupiper said. To ensure that eligible people who have trouble scoring online appointments get their second chances, the convention center provides access.
Despite the scheduling confusion, health officials and providers say their main challenge is limited supply and variability in the amount of doses delivered from week to week. Even with the increase in shipments announced by President Joe Biden’s administration, local officials and suppliers say they don’t have enough doses to meet demand.
Scarcity is one of the reasons why Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, has pointed to the potential value of the unique vaccine for Johnson & Johnson, which recently applied for permission to emergency use. This feature is also less expensive to produce and easier to ship.
Pedroza said last week’s cancellations in Napa County, California, came after an increase in shipments a few weeks ago made the county think it would continue to receive at least as many doses. But the peak turned out to be an unexpected opportunity, Pedroza said.
In Seattle, UW Medicine temporarily stopped taking new appointments in late January due to limited supply, combined with the need to give other people their second dose.
“If there was more supply, we would be happy to make more first-dose appointments,” said Cynthia Dold, associate vice president of clinical operations for UW Medicine.
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Associated Press reporters Paul J. Weber in Texas, Nicky Forster in New York, Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report. .
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.