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Monday, January 4th, 2021

Here’s Why Distribution of the Vaccine Is Taking Longer Than Expected

Author:     Rebecca Robbins, Frances Robles and Tim Arango
Source:     The New York Times
Publication Date:     Dec. 31, 2020
 Link: Here’s Why Distribution of the Vaccine Is Taking Longer Than Expected
Stephan:   You would think that knowing a vaccine, or vaccines, was the proper response to a virus pandemic that from the first day a plan would be developed at the national, federal level, to quickly get that vaccine into the arms of every man, woman, and child in the country. But because the Trump administration never saw the pandemic or the vaccine to counteract it as a national program, this preparatory planning was never even attempted. And as this report lays out, this is the result. I do not understand why this is not seen as criminal incompetence that has resulted in the unnecessary illness of millions, and death of tens of thousands.
Boxes of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine were prepared for shipping at a distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., earlier this month. Credit: Paul Sancya

In Florida, less than one-quarter of delivered coronavirus vaccines have been used, even as older people sat in lawn chairs all night waiting for their shots. In Puerto Rico, last week’s vaccine shipments did not arrive until the workers who would have administered them had left for the Christmas holiday. In California, doctors are worried about whether there will be enough hospital staff members to both administer vaccines and tend to the swelling number of Covid-19 patients.

These sorts of logistical problems in clinics across the country have put the campaign to vaccinate the United States against Covid-19 far behind schedule in its third week, raising fears about how quickly the country will be able to tame the epidemic.

Federal officials said as recently as this month that their goal was to have 20 million people get their first shot by the end of this year. More than 14 million doses of the Pfizer […]

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