Governors complain over pace of COVID-19vaccine shipments16 January 2021, by Lauran Neergaard, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and David Crary

In this Dec. 15, 2020, file photo, a droplet falls from asyringe after a health care worker was injected with thePfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Women & InfantsHospital in Providence, R.I. Uncertainty over the pace offederal COVID-19 vaccine allotments triggered angerand confusion Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in some stateswhere officials worried that expected shipments wouldnot be forthcoming. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Governors bitterly accused the Trumpadministration Friday of deceiving the states aboutthe amount of COVID-19 vaccine they can expectto receive as they ramp up vaccinations for seniorcitizens and others. But the government attributedthe anger to confusion and misguided expectationson the part of the states.

Meanwhile, the race between the vaccine and thevirus may be about to heat up: The Centers forDisease Control and Prevention warned that thenew, more infectious variant first seen in Britain willprobably become the dominant version in the U.S.by March.

The CDC said the variant is about 50% morecontagious than the virus that is causing the bulkof cases in this country.

"We want to sound the alarm," said Dr. Jay Butler,CDC deputy director for infectious diseases.

The clash over the pace of the government'sCOVID-19 vaccine allotments threatens to escalatetensions between the Trump administration andsome states over who is responsible for therelatively slow start to the vaccination drive againstthe scourge that has killed over 390,000Americans.

Oregon had announced earlier this week that itwould expand vaccine eligibility to roughly 760,000residents 65 and older, as well as teachers andchild care providers, because of what it said werepromises that the state's vaccine allotment wouldbe increased.

In this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo, Florence Mullins, 89, sitsin a chair as a family member holds her place in a longline to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Fair Park in Dallas.Uncertainty over the pace of federal COVID-19 vaccineallotments triggered anger and confusion Friday, Jan. 15,2021, in some states where officials worried thatexpected shipments would not be forthcoming. (SmileyN. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

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But Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said those plansare now in disarray because of "deception on anational scale" by the administration.

Via Twitter, Brown said she was told by Gen.Gustave F. Perna, who leads Operation WarpSpeed, that states will not be receiving increasedshipments of vaccine from the national stockpilenext week "because there is no federal reserve ofdoses."

As a result of what she called "a cruel joke," Brownsaid the state will now postpone vaccination ofsenior citizens to Feb. 8, instead of Jan. 23, andinitially limit it to people 80 and older.

Late Friday, Oregon health officials said a case ofthe variant had been diagnose in the Portland areain a patient who had no travel history.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said hewas among several governors deceived by federalofficials about availability of a strategic supply ofdoses.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar listensto a reporter's question during a news conference onOperation Warp Speed and COVID-19 vaccinedistribution, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Washington. (APPhoto/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

"This one is so far beyond the pale to be almostunimaginable," he said. "Who's going to be

prosecuted for this? What are the states to do whenthey've been lied to and made all their plans aroundthis?"

Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman for Virginia Gov.Ralph Northam, said governors were "toldexplicitly" on Tuesday that they would be providedadditional doses. Northam, a Democrat and adoctor, had moved quickly as a result to announcethat the state would expand vaccine eligibility.

Now, Northam's administration is trying todetermine whether those additional supplies don'texist, Yarmosky said.

"What we're seeing is fully in line with thedysfunction that has characterized the Trumpadministration's entire response to COVID-19.President-elect (Joe) Biden cannot be sworn in fastenough," she said.

Michael Pratt, a spokesman for the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, saidthat states may have been confused in theirexpectations but that there has been no reductionin doses shipped to them.

In this Jan. 12, 2021, file photo, Ken Towns receives afirst dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from UCDavis Health in Sacramento, Calif. Uncertainty over thepace of federal COVID-19 vaccine allotments triggeredanger and confusion Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in somestates where officials worried that expected shipmentswould not be forthcoming. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, Pool,File)

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Biden alluded to the tensions Friday and pledged tocommunicate better with states so they know howmuch vaccine will arrive and when.

"Right now we're hearing that they can't planbecause they don't know," he said. "That stopswhen we're in office."

As of Friday, the government had distributed over31 million doses to states, U.S. territories and majorcities. About 12.3 million doses had beenadministered, according to online tracking by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.

There is no evidence that the new variant causesmore severe illness or is transmitted differently, andmask wearing and other precautions still work, theCDC said. Scientists have also expressedconfidence that the vaccines are still effectiveagainst it.

According to CDC, the variant has been detected in12 states and diagnosed in only 76 reported cases.But it is probably more widespread in the U.S. thanthe numbers suggest, CDC scientists said.

In this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo, Century Village residentswait before appointments are handed out for theCOVID-19 vaccine in West Palm Beach, Fla. Uncertaintyover the pace of federal COVID-19 vaccine allotmentstriggered anger and confusion Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, insome states where officials worried that expectedshipments would not be forthcoming. (Greg Lovett/ThePalm Beach Post via AP, File)

The two COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in theU.S.—made by Pfizer and Moderna—are designed tobe given in two doses, three or four weeks apart.

For weeks, Operation Warp Speed had beenholding large amounts of vaccine in reserve toensure that those who got their first dose receivedtheir second one on time. The practice was ahedge against possible manufacturing delays.When HHS Secretary Alex Azar announced onTuesday that he was ending the practice, it wasinterpreted as essentially doubling the expectedsupply.

But there was another huge change: He also urgedstates to open vaccinations to everyone over 65and younger people with certain health problems,even though most hadn't yet finished dispensingshots to all the health workers first in line.

The result was a scramble by state and local healthauthorities to figure out exactly how much vaccinethey would receive in the coming weeks and how toramp up shots for a public with higher expectations.

Pratt said doses that were being held in reserve toprovide second shots were released last week. It'sunclear, however, if they all shipped prior to theTrump administration's announcement early thisweek that states should open up vaccination tomore people. He said states are getting therequired second doses they need and the numberof first doses is stable.

In this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo, Naomi Adams checks on

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residents after they received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccineat Monarch Villa memory care facility in Stockbridge, Ga.Uncertainty over the pace of federal COVID-19 vaccineallotments triggered anger and confusion Friday, Jan. 15,2021, in some states where officials worried thatexpected shipments would not be forthcoming. (APPhoto/John Bazemore, File)

Pfizer said it is working around the clock to producemillions of doses a day, adding, "We foresee noissues in delivering on the commitments we havemade" to supply Operation Warp Speed. Modernadidn't immediately respond to questions about itssupplies.

At Mary's Woods, a retirement community in thesuburbs of Portland, Oregon, residents expressedfear they will have to wait longer for theirvaccinations. Several have COVID-19, and othersare terrified it could spread to them soon.

"I'm pretty disappointed," said 75-year-old JoanBurns. "We're sequestered and it's difficult to talk toanybody. I am as anxious as I've ever been, and Iknow it's escalating. We're just playing the oddsright now, really."

Elsewhere around the country, in hard-hitCalifornia, where 3,675 people have died fromCOVID-19 in the past week, officials are rushing tohelp overwhelmed county coroners. The Office ofEmergency Services said it has secured 98refrigerated trailers to serve as makeshift morgues.

© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast,rewritten or redistributed without permission.APA citation: Governors complain over pace of COVID-19 vaccine shipments (2021, January 16)retrieved 18 February 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-governors-pace-covid-vaccine-shipments.html

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