Joe Biden’s new CDC director said Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines will not be as available as the flu vaccine until mid-February, a promise made by Trump’s health and human services secretary Alex Azar on Monday past and that the launch will be much longer.
Speaking today, Dr. Rochelle Walensky could not set a date for which vaccines will be available in pharmacies and said the new administration must put the “metal pedal” to bring them faster to the Americans.
So far, the state has decided to distribute the vaccine themselves. Massachusetts says it will start introducing vaccines in some pharmacies next week, but it is far from common in the United States.
Most states continue to work through the first groups of vaccines – over 65s and people with underlying health problems.
There are already shortcomings and delays. California does not believe it will complete vaccination of this group by June. Every vaccination program in New York, which is scheduled to take place between today and Sunday, has also now been pushed back a week.
The Biden administration says the fight against COVID-19 is its top priority, and the president has promised to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.
They made radical promises to increase the distribution of vaccines by launching large-scale vaccination sites in places like Yankee Stadium and by hiring medical students, the military, retired doctors and nurses to take pictures.
Scroll down for the video
Speaking today, Dr. Rochelle Walensky could not set a date for which vaccines will be available in pharmacies and said the new administration must put the “metal pedal” to bring them faster to the Americans.
Biden will also order manufacturers to produce syringes, needles, masks or any of the missing items that could slow down the effort under the Defense Production Act.
Officials say the Trump administration did not have a clear plan and had to start from “the first place.”
Walensky on Thursday could not provide a clear timeline on when the vaccine will be available in CVS and Walgreen stores across the country, but said it will not be in February.
“Will it be in every pharmacy in this country according to this chronology? I do not believe.
“And as I said earlier, I’ll tell you the truth here.”
“I do not think that at the end of February we will vaccinate in every pharmacy in this country.
“We said 100 million doses in – the first in 100 days and we will follow this plan.
But I also want to be very aware that after 100 days there are still many Americans who need the vaccine.
She said a key part of the plan will be the use of new vaccines to be approved.
Currently, only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved in the US.
AstraZeneca’s has been approved in the UK, but not yet in America.
Johnson & Johnson will have the vaccine data reviewed in the next “week or so,” according to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“The more vaccines we have that are FDA approved, the better we will be in shape,” said Dr. Walensky.
She also said that they have started working on how to accelerate vaccine production, but will not provide a timetable for when it will start to happen sooner.
“There are many plans, as we think further, about how we will vaccinate people,” she said, adding that she needs to balance the amount of vaccine we have for the number of eligible people, so we don’t I have the vaccine on the shelves and yet I don’t see the footage of these long lines.
“We need to make sure that there are enough vaccinators, that we have ordered health care units, that we have military doctors, that we have retirees, medical students and nurses who are about to graduate, dentists and veterinarians, to be there to vaccinate the public, ‘she said.
Asked if she knows when it will happen, she said: “We are working on answering the questions. We are in the driver’s seat for the second day.
“But we understand exactly – right now, I think we still have vaccines on the shelves that we need to get into people.”
The US vaccinated only 5.2% of its population, while Israel vaccinated 32% of its population
On December 14, Trump’s HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the vaccines will be available as well as the flu vaccine by mid-February.
On Wednesday, Biden’s vaccination coordinator, Bechara Choucair, presented his plan in a call with reporters.
“We will first create as many places as possible for people to be vaccinated,” he said.
The boost to 100 million would no longer be compared to what many experts say is needed to get the herd’s “immunity”, but the administration believes it will slow its spread and start reducing infections.
“It’s an ambitious but achievable goal … but only the beginning,” Jeffrey Zients, Biden’s new COVID tsar, said in a press release on Wednesday.
An order would lead the agencies to “exercise all appropriate authority” – including the Defense Production Act – “to accelerate production, delivery and administration to address the equipment and consumable deficiencies required for the COVID-19 response”.
Another would increase FEMA reimbursement rates to assist states in their response. Another order aims to expand the testing offer and increase access to testing – in order to get people back to work and reopen schools.
Another would seek to ensure that drug studies “meet the needs of diverse populations.”
Part of Biden’s plan is to use large-scale sites, such as Yankee Stadium, as vaccination centers.
Larger studies are already trying to examine the effects on different minority groups. Some localities have already experienced disparities in the communities receiving the vaccine.
An executive order to the departments of education and health and services will direct them to provide guidance on reopening schools “so that state and local officials have values to inform decisions” The administration wants most schools to be open in 100 days .
A new test board will be tasked with developing a “clear and unified approach” to testing.
The administration also intends to provide more information to the public, with regular reports from public health officials, after the Trump administration first released and then withdrew information from the coronavirus task force.
Zients said the team he oversees will seek to restore confidence in the American people.
The United States is still in control of the pandemic, with the highest number of daily deaths