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A resident receives the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a retirement home in Delray Beach, Florida, on December 30.
Photographer: Saul Martinez / Bloomberg
Photographer: Saul Martinez / Bloomberg
US states are improvising new delivery systems and rewriting priorities as Covid-19 vaccines are on a roll. I start at a turtle rhythm.
Colorado said Wednesday it would vaccinate people over 70, joining Texas and Florida in trying to quickly immunize older residents, even though federal guidelines favor healthcare workers. Other cities and states are just registering recipients, weeks after the Trump administration made clear that it considered its job to be done once the vaccines were delivered to hospitals and agencies.
Some senior public health officials expect the pace to pick up next week. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are likely to receive more vaccinations as the new year dawns and the holidays roll back, said Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency also hopes to begin publishing new data that will give a more accurate picture of the mass immunization effort.
The task of administering vaccines that could end a pandemic that has killed 340,000 US residents is so far taxing a primarily private medical system designed to maximize profits rather than provide public health. Governments and institutions are struggling with complex logistics to keep the shots cold, organizing groups of people to receive them and persuading the skeptics of a flood of misinformation online.
West Virginia finished giving the first of two required vaccines to residents and employees of long-term care facilities, the first state to do so, Gov. Jim Justice said during a briefing Wednesday. The state is now vaccinating prison guards and emergency workers, and will then target teachers and residents 80 and older, Justice said.
“Take the vaccine, for crying out loud,” Justice said. “People say that a third arm is going to grow, antlers are going to grow. I mean, give me a break. “
Click to view the Bloomberg News Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker
US officials have sent more than 14 million Covid-19 shots, Army General Gustave Perna, who oversees the distribution, said Wednesday. So far, only 2.6 million have come to arms, according to the CDC.
Fewer injections have been given than the Trump administration expected, Moncef Slaoui, a scientific adviser to the government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, told reporters on Wednesday. The total is well below the goal of administering 20 million vaccines by the end of the year, an already small number.
President-elect Joe Biden has said the administration is failing to protect Americans and has promised 100 million vaccines in its first 100 days if Congress provides funding.
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Part of the apparent slowness is due to a delay in the data, which can take three to four days to see, Slaoui and Perna said. Perna also blamed snowstorms and providers who learned to handle vaccines.
Christy Gray, director of the Virginia Department of Health’s immunization division, said far more people have received the dose than state data suggests and that providers who administer the vaccines have been slow to report it.
Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, attributed the slowness to public health departments being affected by the pandemic, launching a mass inoculation campaign amid the holiday season and special handling requirements. and storage of Covid-19 vaccines.
The formula created by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes logistics more complicated than a simple flu shot, said Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious diseases for the Minnesota Department of Health.
“This is a new vaccine with new processes that need to be put in place, and that adds some time,” Ehresmann told a news conference Wednesday.
At least three shipments of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine was held in Texas last week because they showed signs of falling outside of their required temperature range.
Federal officials said they will assess what is working and what needs to be adjusted.
“This is what I am confident in: Every day, everyone gets better and I think the acceptance will increase significantly as we move forward,” Perna said.
State struggles
Much of the responsibility rests with local leaders, as President Donald Trump made clear in a Wednesday morning tweet telling states: “Move!”
Each receives a set number of injections from the federal government on a weekly basis and decides where they should go and who should get them. Healthcare workers and long-term care residents are generally first in line.
New Jersey’s allocations have been lower than the state anticipated and the numbers have changed, making planning difficult, Gov. Phil Murphy said during a briefing on Wednesday.
“This is not only at the level that we were promised, it is also relatively volatile,” Murphy said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during a press conference Wednesday, said the huge undertaking has been “grossly underrated.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine chided vendors for acting slow. Only 17% of the doses distributed have been administered in the state, which is home to some of the largest healthcare systems in the country, such as the Cleveland Clinic, DeWine said during a news conference Wednesday.
“I’m not satisfied with where we are in Ohio,” he said. “We are not moving fast enough, but we are going to get there.”
Logistical problems are slowing down vaccines in hospitals, DeWine said. In long-term care facilities, few workers want vaccines. About 60% of those offered a vaccine declined, DeWine said.
Ground-level logistics can be opaque across the US Many residents are unsure whether they will receive a vaccine from their doctor, a government clinic, or a pharmacy. It is unclear how government officials will verify eligibility. Some states and cities have launched websites where residents can sign until be vaccinated.
Sorry no
Healthcare workers are the only people who can register in the District of Columbia. New Mexico created an online portal that allows people to register for vaccination after entering basic information, including any chronic medical conditions they may have. The state is committed to contacting registrants when the vaccine is available.
Essex County, NJ, has a system that in two clicks rejects people who are not receiving medical care or who are not otherwise qualified: “Based on your response, you are currently not eligible for vaccination at this time. Be sure to check back when CDC releases new phases and guidelines. “
Some states are already beginning to offer the vaccine more widely than the federal government recommends. In Colorado, the vaccine will be available to everyone over the age of 70, Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday. Some areas may focus on healthcare workers, while others may begin to provide it to older people.
Texas this week opened vaccination to people 65 and older and to people 16 and older with an increased risk of serious diseases. Gov. Greg Abbott, in a tweet Tuesday, urged vaccine providers to use the injections quickly, because a “significant portion” may go unused.
In Florida, some seniors are desperate. Photos and videos showed seniors in Lee County camping out in hopes of receiving one of the coveted shots.
The three clinics in the county were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the health department. All three reached their maximum capacity at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
– With the assistance of Michelle Fay Cortez, Stephen Joyce, Anna Edney, Margaret Newkirk, John Tozzi, Andrew Ballard, Elise Young and Alexander Ebert
(Updates with Messonnier’s comment in the third paragraph.)
