As Mutated Strains of COVID-19 Surface, Can the U.S. Overcome Its Vaccine Rollout Hurdles?

Twenty million. That was the number of Americans who were supposed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by now. Instead, more than 5 million people have received a shot, and 17 million doses have been shipped to the states and other jurisdictions that are distributing them to hospitals, doctors and pharmacies. “There is a complete lack of federal leadership, and it’s just horrifying,” says Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the CDC. “We heard, ‘It’s our job as Operation Warp Speed to deliver vaccines to states. Then it’s their job from there.’ But that’s not how public health works in the U.S.” As it is, state and local health departments are struggling to implement an unprecedented mass-vaccination program while also managing a surge in new COVID-19 cases—some 200,000 daily for many days in December and January—and record-breaking numbers of hospitalizations. Shrinking budgets have left some states scrambling to find the staff and expertise needed to stand up a complex system of receiving, storing, distributing, tracking and administering vaccine doses, not to mention educating the public about the shots and monitoring for side effects. “Early on, there was talk at the federal level that states don’t need money, they are like pass-throughs for this stuff; it’s going to be the health care systems that are going to do the vaccinating,” says Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious di...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Magazine Source Type: news