The governor of New York has threatened to fine hospitals if they do not use their COVID-19 vaccine quickly. His South Carolina counterpart warned health workers that they have until January 15 to strike or move behind the line. The California governor wants to use dentists to vaccinate people.
With growing frustration over the slow launch of the vaccine, state leaders and other US politicians are stepping up pressure, improvising and seeking to break the rules to get gunfire faster.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on Wednesday that the government would allow more pharmacies to start vaccinations to speed up the process. If health workers do not line up quickly enough, he said, it is good to extend eligibility to lower priority groups.
“We should not be too prescriptive in this regard, especially since we see governors leaving vaccines in freezers, rather than taking them into people’s arms,” he said.
As of Wednesday, more than three weeks after the US vaccination campaign, 5.3 million people had received the first blow of the 17 million doses distributed so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although this is thought to be insufficient due to a reporting gap, health officials are still far behind where they wanted to be.
The slow launch has been blamed on a multitude of issues, including a lack of funding and direction from Washington, mismatches between supply and demand, a combination of state and local government approaches, vaccine mistrust and holiday disorder.
In much of the nation, health care workers and nursing home residents are given priority for limited initial vaccine deliveries at this stage. But the pressure is growing to allow other groups to step up. Louisiana began vaccinating seniors Monday, while Alaska and Mississippi gave OK for seniors to start receiving shots in the next few days.
The United States has about 21 million health care workers and 3 million people in nursing homes and other long-term care centers. The CDC said about 512,000 people in such centers were vaccinated through a partnership between the government and the CVS and Walgreens pharmacy chains.
Government officials in recent days have reported that the number of people shot has accelerated to about half a million a day, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said the pace could soon reach a million or more.
Fauci estimated that between 70% and 85% of the US population will eventually have to be vaccinated to obtain “herd immunity”, a goal he said could be achieved by early next fall. That translates to 280 million people.
Azar said that in addition to the nursing home program, pharmacies in 19 chains will now be allowed to help administer vaccines to ease the pressure on hospitals, which have been the main providers of vaccines so far. More than 40,000 pharmacies will eventually be involved, he said.
Pharmacies will still have to follow state guidelines for whoever enters the line first.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the United States has risen to about 360,000. Deaths caused by COVID-19 set another day record at 3,775 on Tuesday, although authorities warned that the number of holidays could fluctuate dramatically, as some health agencies lag behind in reporting cases and then catch up.
There have also been growing concerns about a new, more contagious variant of the virus. In Southern California, San Diego County health authorities have confirmed 24 cases, the highest concentration known to date in the United States. Cases have also been reported in Colorado, Florida, Georgia and New York.
As the number of cases and hospitalizations increases, politicians become aggressive in trying to accelerate the momentum of vaccination. The governors of California, Maryland and North Carolina have said they will use the National Guard.
Maryland State Governor Larry Hogan also warned that any facility that did not deliver at least 75 percent of its first doses could have reduced future allocations until they could speed up vaccinations.
While about 270,000 doses have been placed directly in the hands of state-run first-line vaccinators in the past three weeks, Hogan said only about 77,000 people have been inoculated since Tuesday, or about 1.3 percent of the state’s population.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has warned that health workers will lose their seats in the queue if they do not move quickly to get the shots. As of Monday, the state has given less than half of the initial allocation of the Pfizer vaccine to about 43,000 people.
In California, where only 1 percent of the population has been vaccinated, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants to give providers the flexibility to take pictures of people who are not on the priority list if the doses are in danger of being wasted. He also wants to expand the pool of professionals who distribute photos.
The pace has been so slow in New York that Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday threatened to fine hospitals by up to $ 100,000 if he does not complete the first round of vaccinations by the end of the week. He also threatened to stop sending the vaccine to hospitals that do not promptly use their share.
“Move it quickly. We are serious “, warned Cuomo. “If you do not want to be fined, do not participate in the program. It is not a mandatory program. “
The delays prompted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to call for an extension of eligibility, and on Wednesday he announced a plan to shoot 10,000 city police officers by Sunday.
But Cuomo immediately dropped the idea, saying, “We have to do health care first, because that’s the front line.”