
1 million Americans are getting COVID-19 vaccines a week and it's not enough
By Mustafa GatollariDec. 29 2020, Updated 1:29 p.m. ET
In the summer of 2020, the White House poured the pressure on pharmaceuticals to create a COVID-19 vaccine in order to help curb the spread of the pandemic and help return society to some semblance of normalcy. The economic destruction and life-altering practices implemented as a result of the coronavirus helped to spur a fast turnaround time for the vaccine - it only took a few months before the first batch of two-part vaccines became available.
Currently, 1 million separate vaccinations are being administered to various people all across the country in a single week. And while this may seem like a high number, medical professionals like ER Physician and former Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen has stated that to get to herd immunity by June of 2021, we'd need to bump up the number of vaccinations significantly.
At the current pace, people are immunizing themselves, it'll take ten years to attain herd immunity. Dr. Wen contends that in order to reach herd immunity by this coming summer, 3.5 million Americans will need to receive the COVID-19 vaccine every single day. She divulged the numbers on CNN, and the statistics brought up a serious conversation on the availability of vaccines for folks.
Here’s the math: If the goal is to reach 80% of Americans vaccinated with a 2-dose #covid19 vaccine, it will take 10 years at our current pace. We are at 1 million vaccinations a week. To get to herd immunity by June 2021, we need to be at 3.5 million vaccinations a day. pic.twitter.com/E78e0xg10z
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) December 29, 2020
There appears to be a few factors as to why people aren't getting vaccinated as quickly as many healthcare professionals would like. The main reason seems to be the sheer amount of vaccines that are available to the public. The 300 vaccine stockpile projected by January 2021 was cut down to a third of that original number - then that number was cut to 100 million.
Realistically, however, the number of vaccines is much lower than even that figure.
Then there's a sentiment of "distrust" surrounding the vaccine itself and how it was developed so quickly. The CDC has delineated several reasons as to why the vaccine is safe for human use, not to mention the accelerated number of trials packed into a relatively short time frame for the vaccine.
According to Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the issue isn't just the relatively low number of vaccines, but the fact that there's no plan to administer and disseminate them.
So a lot of chatter happening on the slow vaccine roll out
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Personally, I'm incredibly frustrated.
Did we not know that vaccines were coming? Is vaccine administration a surprise?
Several complex issues so lets break things down a bit
Warning, this is a bit of a rant
Thread
First, we were told in October that we'd have 100 million doses by end of December
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
100 million
Who said that? @SecAzar
In The Hill. Like 10 weeks ago
Then, by november, Azar was saying 40 million doses ready to ship out by end of Decemberhttps://t.co/rUYCrYwKgG
As it turns out, that 100 million dose figure was actually much less: 40 million. 20 million were put into circulation with another 20 million put into reserve.
Here's Azar in @thehill saying 40 million by end of the year
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
In December, Operation Warp Speed says 20 million doses will be out by end of year, they'll keep the other 20M in reserve for 2nd dose. Fine
3/nhttps://t.co/PWdz1soHLB
Now, we'll miss 20M deadline but might be able to get to 20M by sometime in early January
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
But this is really not the worst part
The worst part is no real planning on what happens when vaccines arrive in states
No plan, no money, just hope that states will figure this out
4/n
Dr. Ashish says that the "worst part" of the vaccine conundrum is the fact that there really isn't a "plan" in place on how to disseminate the vaccines once they are available.
So who manages state level? Departments of Health mostly
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
These well-funded agencies (yes, I'm kidding) who manage all the testing, data analysis & reporting, providing advice to businesses, schools, doing public campaigns, etc
Non-stop. For 9 months
They get vaccines too
5/n
So DOHs adding vaccines to their plate
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Most are super stretched and they are trying to make a plan
They are trying to stand up a vaccination infrastructure
Congress had given them no money. States are out of money
So many are passing it on to hospitals, nursing homes
6/n
Dr. Ashish stated that the vaccine roll-out is reminiscent of the COVID-19 testing roll-outs back when the pandemic first hit.
Any of this familiar?
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Like our national testing debacle, being repeated
And now, hospitals and clinics are scrambling to figure out how to implement
This article from @CNN is helpful
There is one line in this piece that drove me crazyhttps://t.co/UZYojipuAr
The line when Mississippi health chief says its not state's job to ensure vaccines get into people's arms
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
What? Whose job is it?
Not the Feds. They just get vaccine to states
Not the states. They just get vaccine to hospitals, clinics
So its all on front line providers?
7/n
The "responsibility" of who coordinates who gets the vaccines and when doesn't seem clearly delineated by the government on either the Federal or State level. Dr. Ashish states that it appears that the onus squarely falls on the shoulders of front line providers.
To be sure, many states are taking real responsibility
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
LOTS of overburdened public health folks are still making this work. Heroically
But now hospitals trying to figure out where to set up vaccination sites. And folks sorting out who can do vaccinations in care facilities
8/n
So that's where we are, but here are a few key data points
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
1. We have about 11.5 million doses distributed
2. About 2.1 million given
3. I think the real number of given is higher (reporting lag) but its still not that great
But here's the part that is so frustrating
9/10
He capped off his Twitter thread with the poor job that's being done in the implementation of vaccines along with the fact that there still isn't a clearly delineated plan of how people are going to get said vaccines.
There appears to be no investment or plan in the last mile
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
No effort from Feds to help states launch a real vaccination infrastructure
Did the Feds not know vaccines were coming?
Shouldn't planning around vaccination sites, etc not have happened in October or November?
10/11
Public health has always been a state/federal partnership
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
States are stretched
Feds are suppose to help
But same folks who blamed states for testing mess now ready to blame states for vaccine slowdown
They are again setting states up to fail
But now, there is hope....
11/12
Dr. Ashish has stated that congressional help may assist in painting a better picture for the future of vaccine distribution.
Public health has always been a state/federal partnership
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
States are stretched
Feds are suppose to help
But same folks who blamed states for testing mess now ready to blame states for vaccine slowdown
They are again setting states up to fail
But now, there is hope....
11/12
Congress finally passed $ for vax distribution
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
States now building infrastructure. Should have been built by Feds months ago
After a slow ramp up, it'll get better
We're learning again we can't fight pandemic with every state on its own
An effective federal govt helps
Fin