‘It should be better.’ Officials say numerous factors slowed vaccine rollout
The top officials in charge of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday acknowledged that the number of doses administered so far by the states has been lower than expected but said they expect a quick increase.
Army Gen. Gustave Perna, who is leading the Trump administration’s logistics and distribution effort for Operation Warp Speed, said there had been “numerous factors” behind the lag in doses being administered compared to the amount of vaccine that has been distributed to the states.
“There’s two holidays, there’s been three major snowstorms. There is everybody working through how to do the notification, how to make sure we are administering it the right way, how to ensure that it stays in accordance with the cold chain,” Perna said.
As of Wednesday, there were just over 2 million doses administered of the 14 million initial doses that have been shipped to states, Perna and Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser on the government’s vaccine rollout, told reporters at a briefing.
“That number is lower than what we had hoped for,” Slaoui said. “We know it should be better, and we are working hard to make it better.”
Over the past two weeks states have reported challenges in being able to get reliable data from the federal government on how many doses they would be receiving, making it more difficult for them to schedule shots for their priority residents.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the states for the delays, tweeting that “the Federal Government has distributed the vaccines to the states. Now it is up to the states to administer. Get moving!”
Perna noted it had been less than two weeks since the first Pfizer vaccine began to be distributed in the United States, and just days since the vaccine developed by Moderna started distribution.
“I do believe, as it’s been reported to me, vaccine allocation or uptake usually starts out a little slow, and then it increases exponentially,” Perna said. “And here’s what I have confidence in. Every day, everybody gets better.”
Perna and Slaoui said the initial rollout was hampered by the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays and several major snowstorms that air and ground distribution teams had to navigate.
But once vaccines arrived at their destinations in the states, there were further initial snags with notification to local officials and long-term health care facilities and the need to ensure both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines remained at their required sub-zero storage temperatures.
“From an availability standpoint, there is no issue,” Slaoui said. “From an administration standpoint, I concur with Gen. Perna that there is a learning curve in the system and we are going through it.”
Perna also said the need for states to ensure they have enough vaccines on hand to distribute to their highest priority recipients, health care workers and residents of long-term health care facilities, may have encouraged them to hold on to doses rather than administer them.
“What we want to do is make sure that the appropriate amount of vaccine is available, so that when CVS or Walgreens coordinate times for the clinics, that we are able to do everybody inside of the facility, both the elderly as well as those caring for them,” Perna said. “So yes, that does contribute to part of the lag, and it could be a significant number.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 3:05 PM with the headline "‘It should be better.’ Officials say numerous factors slowed vaccine rollout."
