Even if all coronavirus vaccines run according to the federal government’s plan, many jurisdictions will initially receive only a fraction of the amount they will need to cover their health care workers.
For example, Minneapolis-St. The Paul Metro area has been told by state officials to expect 19,000 doses, enough to give a full vaccine to about 9,500 people, as the vaccine requires a two-dose course taken 21 days apart. A source in Twin Cities says it needs 57,000 doses to cover its frontline healthcare workers.
Earlier this week, the country’s governors began learning the number of doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine they should expect to receive when they begin arriving on the ship.
In a document obtained by CBS News, U.S. Officials with the vaccine effort, known as Operation Vorp Speed, say they are targeting December 14 as the day by which Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine will be authorized for immediate use by the FDA. They say emergency..4 million doses will be ready to ship within 24 hours of emergency clearance.
The number of doses received by the state will be based on its population of 18 and above.
Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, expressed frustration over how much of her dose would be received in her state’s initial federal allocation of the Pfizer vaccine. The approximately 12,000 doses will cover about 6,000 people, a third of the state’s health care workers.
“It’s a real concern” because “our healthcare, like the staff here, everywhere, is really battered, the healthcare system is broken due to staff shortages,” Mills said this week on a call with the White House Coronavirus Task Force. .
On the call, Gustave Parna, CEO of Operation Operation Speed Speed, warned governors that their estimates were preliminary and would be finalized when an emergency was approved.
If the vaccine is approved for emergency, the Moderna vaccine will be released on December 22. That, too, calls for a two-dose course.
Governors will decide who gets the first dose. The Centers for Disease Control’s advisory committee voted Tuesday to recommend vaccinating front-line healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents – but in many states, it’s either one or the other.
A Connecticut official said the state is considering vaccinating long-term care facility residents, as this is where the death toll is so high.
“Our nursing homes have been tragically hit and we believe it will have the most life-saving impact on vaccination deployments to residents,” the official said. The state expects 100,000 doses by the end of the year, as new shipments of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines arrive.
There is a catch, though.
Once they get the vaccine from the federal government, the states are responsible for the distribution, which is a costly endeavor. Many states rely on state and local aid funding established by CARES legislation, but the finances expire at the end of the year and Congress has not yet agreed on an expansion.
According to Dr. Marcus Plessia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, which represents the interests of public health agencies across the country, states need money for three key parts of distribution: staffing for vaccine administration, vaccination and dosing. To ensure IT systems, and people to participate in public relations campaigns. Without federal help, Palacia says states will be slower in distributing vaccines.
“Our membership is getting very swollen,” said Dr. Plessia. “We can roll this vaccine without additional funding, but it will take many years. It is very frustrating to the statesmen that we have spent billions of dollars to develop this vaccine and move it forward, and now Congress is just changing around.” “
Officials from five states told CBS News they were concerned about the outcome.
“This should really happen a few weeks ago,” a Utah official said of the need for new funding. “There has also been confusion in the states due to lack of action. With the spending deadline of December 0 spending, there will be a lot of spending that will be left to the states.”
Without new federal funding, officials say vaccination spaces will be fewer, and they will have to rely more on already cash-strapped health systems for vaccine administration.
“It is crucial that Congress provide financial support to support the distribution of the vaccine,” said Jackie Farwell of the Maine Health and Human Services Department. “We are still considering what we would do without this support and for all contingency plans, but federal funding is critical to the success of this important undertaking.”
Other states suspect they will bring in another amount of cash from the federal government to help falsify distribution costs.
“We are counting on feeds to provide vaccines, but do not rely on them for additional funding for logistics,” said a Virginia official, who said he would take the money if offered. “
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday signaled their support for a bilateral, coronavirus relief plan. Which will include assistance State and local governments. It is not yet clear whether the White House will support it.
Governor Rewandrew Cuomo announced that New York would receive an early delivery of enough early COVID-19 vaccine doses for 170,000 New Yorkers on Dec. 15 and expected further allocations from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of the month.
Although vaccine allocation was “welcome” news, Cuomo criticized the federal vaccination plan because it “not only monitors black, brown and poor communities, but its information-sharing provisions will exclude undocumented communities from vaccination.”
Not every state is willing to disclose the estimated number of doses it received.
“At this time, we have not been given a voice allocation number for a number of reasons, including authorization of emergency use of the proposed vaccines, so safety and effectiveness for different populations have not been identified,” Pennsylvania officials said in a statement.
Good report contributed to this report.
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