States have hit the lack of COVID vaccine as eligibility expands

US states are finally picking up the pace of their COVID-19 vaccination programs, so much so that many have already vaccinated so many of their health care workers and elderly residents that they are ready to expand eligibility.

At least 28 states and Washington, DC, have started vaccinating teachers, and at least 19 – including California, New York and Illinois – have started firing at people with health conditions that endanger them.

But that encouraging progress is being maintained, as states remain without doses. Some even delay the extension of eligibility due to shortages.

To date, nearly 53.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States and 11.8 percent of the population has had one or more doses.

Only a whopping 1.7 million doses are given a day, but states that excel in vaccination, such as West Virginia, are affected by the lack of doses.

West Virginia, with some of the worst death rates of despair, obesity and heart disease in the US, has become the dark horse of vaccinations.

The state has administered at least one dose of the vaccine to almost 14% of its population – well above the national average – according to Bloomberg data.

But its rapid campaign is slowing, health officials say.

“With a small number of vaccines nationwide, the state is now focusing on vaccinating West Virginians 65 and older, along with health care workers and teachers 50 and older,” Allison Adler, communications director for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, DailyMail.com said in an email.

“Right now, West Virginia needs more vaccines and continues to ask for more so we can take them in our arms as soon as possible.”

According to the Department of Health’s own vaccine tracking system, West Virginia administered the first doses to 254,646 people as of Monday.

He delivered an incredible 106.2 percent of his first doses – a feat accomplished by extracting extra doses from Pfizer vaccine vials, expanding the supply.

The state also granted 97.3% of the 144.4,000 secondary doses allocated to it.

On January 26, President Biden promised that states would see a 16 percent increase in the number of vaccine doses they received the following week, starting Monday, February 1.

He added that states will be notified of the doses they will receive three weeks in advance.

But West Virginia has not seen shipments grow so much.

He received 11,700 first doses and 11,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine each week since December 21, 2020.

This week, Moderna’s dose allocation increased to 18,500 from each first and second dose – but this is only an 8% increase from the previous 17,100 dose allocation per week.

Despite requests to increase its deliveries and the remarkably good launch of vaccines in West Virginia, that state must ration doses, rather than give them to more people.

And it is not the only state facing this problem.

At least four other states – North Dakota, New Mexico, Utah and Montana – used more than 90 percent of the doses sent to them by the federal government.

Even states that have used a smaller share of the doses allocated to them are retained.

California administered only 74.2 percent of the nearly six million vaccine doses sent by the federal government.

And the state will begin allowing residents under the age of 65 who have disabilities or severe health conditions underlying them to be vaccinated on March 15.

But since Monday, it has been difficult for even people already eligible to get photos.

Two mass vaccination centers in San Francisco remained closed Monday due to a lack of vaccines.

The Moscone Center and City College sites in San Francisco will not be able to reopen until they receive the next shipment of vaccines from the federal government.

Illinois and New York also announced last week that they will soon begin vaccinating residents with “comorbidities” that put them at increased risk for COVID-19 – including heart disease, diabetes, obesity or pregnancy.

New York has opened vaccine eligibility for anyone over the age of 16 in these categories since Monday, despite declining reserves, low vaccination rates in rural areas and even parts of New York City, such as the Bronx, and with about 9,500 nursing home residents allowed to be vaccinated.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out Monday that there are now 10 million people eligible for vaccination in New York – but only 300,000 doses allocated to the state per week.

He blamed the Trump administration directly.

“The Trump administration has said it is increasing eligibility and will increase vaccine supply, so states have increased eligibility, but the Trump administration has increased vaccine supply,” Cuomo told Monday’s news briefing.

“Biden comes in and basically what happens is ‘the cabinets are empty,'” he added, referring to a Buffalo News editorial.

Cuomo has accredited the Biden administration to provide several doses immediately from manufacturers.

“But there are more people eligible nationally than there are doses available,” he said.

“The federal government has increased eligibility, but it has never increased supply.”

As a result, New York now has “10 million people following 300,000 doses.”

Cuomo did not notice that the supply of doses of Moderna in New York has increased in the last three weeks and is scheduled to receive 111,300 doses this week, compared to 103,000 in the previous week and 94,200 in the week before.

However, at the current rate at which the state is receiving doses, it will take 33 weeks for all those currently eligible in New York to be vaccinated.

There will still be 9.46 million New York residents who will need vaccines (including children under 16, for whom the FDA has not yet authorized photos).

Teachers in 28 states are now also eligible for vaccination (although some states have restrictions on this designation, such as West Virginia, which says only educators over the age of 50 can get shot).

These states are:

The US government now has contracts for 600 million combined doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines – enough for almost the entire US population to receive both doses.

Vaccine manufacturers are also struggling to make more doses, but blockages have continued to occur at the level of the federal manufacturer and distribution.