Now that nearly half of the US population may be eligible for coronavirus vaccines, America is facing the problem that experts thought we would have all the time: demand for the vaccine exceeds supply.
Why does it matter: The Trump administration’s call for states to open access to the vaccine to all Americans 65 and older and adults with pre-existing conditions could have helped massage some bottlenecks in the distribution process, but it has also led to another kind of chaos. .
The whole picture: The United States took another 14.7 million photos on Bloomberg, well in addition to the 20 million doses expected by the end of December. Almost half of the distributed doses were administered.
- Vaccine providers have adhered too rigidly to the priority-setting guidelines, experts said, prompting the administration to issue its new guidelines.
- But the process has also struggled with the complicated logistics of a massive vaccine distribution program, and making more people eligible for vaccines does not solve problems such as the lack of vaccinators.
What happens: We know over time that vaccines can only be manufactured, distributed and administered at a limited rate. Now we see those limitations that unfold in real time.
- Vaccine-eligible Americans cannot receive appointments because all available slots fill up almost immediately after opening.
- In some places, where vaccines are given on a first-come, first-served basis, people have been queuing for hours – or even overnight – trying to shoot themselves.
- new York the website said last week that all vaccination schedules are reserved for the next 14 weeks. Although 7 million New Yorkers are eligible, the state receives only 300,000 doses of vaccine a week from the federal government.
Changing federal guidelines it was announced along with the Trump administration’s decision to stop withholding secondary vaccine doses and instead distribute all available photos to states.
- But the administration has already begun to do so, the Washington Post reported, meaning there is no additional supply of vaccine doses to send.
Bottom line: The supply of vaccines will always be our biggest problem in the next few months. What I underestimated were the logistical challenges that have been played out over the last few weeks.