The Biden administration opposes requests to change its vaccine distribution strategy, as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some states and require delays elsewhere.
Several renowned health experts, as well as the governor of Michigan. Gretchen Whitmer
Gretchen Whitmer Overnight Care: White House Rejects Call to Send Multiple Doses of Vaccine to Certain States | White House warns states to expect low weekly vaccine deliveries J&J White House rejects call to send more doses of vaccine to certain states Bipartisan lawmakers urge Biden to send more vaccines to Michigan in mid-rise (D) and members of the state delegation to Congress, have asked the Biden administration to send additional doses of vaccine to their state, amid a worrying increase in cases and hospitalizations there.
But on Friday, the White House rejected Michigan’s request, saying it did not want to take vaccine doses away from other parts of the country. The current White House vaccine distribution strategy is based on population, not hotspots.
The situation highlights differences between states, however, while Michigan is asking for more doses of vaccine on the rise, other states have thousands of unfulfilled meetings.
Mississippi, for example, had more than 70,000 meetings available Thursday, The New York Times reported.
Whitmer said she will continue to push for an increase in vaccine doses for her condition after unsuccessfully making the case in a phone call with President Biden
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“We supported a growth strategy,” Whitmer told a news conference on Friday. “At the moment, this is not being implemented, but I am not giving up.”
She said the strategy should be to implement vaccine doses to be “shaken where the hotspots are.”
While Michigan is by far the hardest hit state, Whitmer said other states may soon be in need of more doses. Other hot spot states are mostly in the Northeast, including New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.
The White House said it would provide additional staff to other affected states besides Michigan, but did not specify which, saying talks were ongoing.
“Today is Michigan and the Midwest, tomorrow could be another section of our country,” Whitmer said.
The White House said Friday it will send additional staff to help with vaccinations in affected states such as Michigan, as well as additional testing and treatment capabilities.
Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, called in additional staff to help with vaccinations as Michigan grows, a sign that the Biden administration is “taking it seriously,” saying that “this is being prepared” for several weeks. .
Like other states, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that there is a significant gap between the doses administered in Michigan and the number actually administered, which means there is room for the state to intensify vaccinations even without multiple doses, he said. Topol.
But more generally, he said it would make more sense for hot spots than the current population-based formula.
“The population makes no sense,” he said. “It’s where it’s needed.”
Jeff Zients
Jeff Zients Overnight Care: White House Rejects Call to Send Multiple Doses of Vaccine to Certain States | White House warns states to expect low weekly J&J vaccine shipments White House warns states to expect low weekly J&J vaccine shipments, the White House coordinator for the COVID-19 response, defended the population-based formula on Friday, saying it needs vaccines across the country and that the administration did not want to transfer more doses to hot spots like Michigan.
“There are tens of millions of people across the country in every state and county who have not yet been vaccinated,” Zients said. “And the correct and fair way to distribute the vaccine is based on the adult population by states, tribes and territories. That is what has been done and we will continue to do so. ”
“The virus is unpredictable,” he added. “We don’t know where the next increase in cases might come from.”
As most states have now opened up vaccine eligibility for all adults, the problem in some parts of the country is beginning to shift to an supply that exceeds demand, rather than vice versa.
“As demand starts to go down, that’s why we’re going out to try to get people to work in factories, that’s why we’re going out to go to church and all that stuff,” the Ohio governor said. Mike DeWine
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Polls show Republicans are more resistant to the vaccine than the general population. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in late March found that 29 percent of Republicans said they would “certainly not get the vaccine, compared to 13 percent of all people.”
Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellRomney blasts end of filibuster, SCOTUS expansion McConnell, GOP criticized Biden’s executive order on SCOTUS Overnight Defense: Biden proposes defense budget 3B | Criticism comes from the left and the right The Pentagon is heading for a new examination for extremists MORE (Ky.) He urged members of his party to get vaccinated.
“As a Republican, as soon as it was my turn, I got the vaccine,” he said at a Kentucky event in late March. “I would encourage all Republicans to do this.”
As vaccinations progress, new cases remain relatively stable nationally, albeit at a high level of about 65,000 per day. In Michigan, however, cases are on the rise, as are hospitalizations, which rose from about 850 in early March to more than 3,000, according to data compiled by The New York Times.
The continuous number of the virus, even with the available vaccines, highlights the need to take them in their arms as soon as possible.
“The biggest tragedy right now is that we have vaccines at our disposal that can prevent hospitalizations and death, and when we see an increase in this, it makes sense that we should act quickly to try to prevent this,” he said. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “So if there are states that are fighting more than others, I think it makes sense to get additional vaccines.”