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The State Department has so far received less than a quarter of the 315,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses it requested for employees in the United States and worldwide, forcing the department to scrap an ambitious plan for swift global distribution and instead follow a piecemeal process in which the internal Bureau of Medical Services, or MED, is forced to make hasty, difficult decisions about distribution, multiple officials said. The State Department receives vaccine allotments directly from Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership, launched by the Trump administration in May 2020, charged with accelerating COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution. (Rogin, 2/18)

A Manatee County, Florida, commissioner broke protocol for equitable vaccine distribution, which she had previously voted in favor of, when planning a vaccine drive initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Vanessa Baugh admitted on Thursday that she "wanted to make sure certain people were on the list" for vaccination after emails revealed that she directed county officials to create a list to let her and others jump the line. In response to criticism that county officials had only permitted residents from the two richest zip codes in the county to get vaccinated at the event, Baugh further admitted that she picked the zip codes herself. (Murphy, Flores, Toropin and Weisfeldt, 2/18)

The District announced Thursday that it will offer coronavirus vaccines to people 16 or older with serious health problems, beginning March 1. Residents who have conditions such as cancer, diabetes or kidney or liver disease can seek a vaccine through their doctor or through the city’s public registration system. Doses remain in short supply, and this new group of patients — representing more than a quarter of adults in the city — will compete for appointments with seniors and an increasingly large pool of eligible essential workers. (Zauzmer, 2/18)

Massachusetts public health officials apologized Thursday night after the state’s COVID-19 vaccination appointment website crashed earlier in the day, as a surge of newly eligible residents age 65 and over tried to book appointments. “The state’s website to find and book vaccine appointments experienced delays and technical difficulties and the administration sincerely apologizes for the frustration and inconvenience our residents experienced over the course of the day,” the state’s COVID-19 Command Center said in a statement. (Bowker, 2/18)

The federal government could incentivize states to create one-stop websites to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments with grant money under new legislation introduced by Maryland Congressman Anthony Brown. The proposal, called the Vaccine Administration Centralization to Coordinate and Improve National Execution (VACCINE) Act, also would create a national website and call center for Americans to find information about the state registration systems, and mandate that sites adhere to “modern design principles” to maximize efficiency. (Miller, 2/18)

CVS Health plans to contact Americans living in underserved communities to help them schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments amid signs that white people are getting the free vaccine at higher rates than Black Americans. The drugstore chain said Friday that it will call, email and text-message people living in what the federal government has deemed socially vulnerable areas to provide assistance and education in the vaccine process. The move also comes as reports circulate widely that Americans are struggling to navigate various scheduling systems, website crashes and a sluggish rollout of the two vaccines approved so far. (Bomey, 2/19)

The Business Roundtable, the CDC Foundation and other nonprofits launched the Health Action Alliance on Thursday, a joint initiative to help bolster vaccination efforts and encourage people to get inoculated. The alliance, which also includes the Ad Council, de Beaumont Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will provide resources to the business community to help companies deliver information to employees on COVID-19 vaccines. (Gangitano, 2/18)

KHN: To Vaccinate Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains And Tundra

A Learjet 31 took off before daybreak from Helena Regional Airport in Montana, carrying six Veterans Affairs medical providers and 250 doses of historic cargo cradled in a plug-in cooler designed to minimize breakage. Even in a state where 80-mph speed limits are normal, ground transportation across long distances is risky for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, which must be used within 12 hours of thawing. (Kime, 2/19)

KHN: Spurred By Pandemic, Little Shell Tribe Fast-Tracks Its Health Service Debut 

Linda Watson draped a sweater with the words “Little Shell Chippewa Tribe” over her as she received the newly recognized tribal nation’s first dose of covid-19 vaccine. “I wanted to show my pride in being a Little Shell member,” Watson, 72, said. “The Little Shell are doing very good things for the people.” (Houghton, 2/19)

KHN: Companies Pan For Marketing Gold In Vaccines

For a decade, Jennifer Crow has taken care of her elderly parents, who have multiple sclerosis. After her father had a stroke in December, the family got serious in its conversations with a retirement community — and learned that one service it offered was covid-19 vaccination. “They mentioned it like it was an amenity, like ‘We have a swimming pool and a vaccination program,’” said Crow, a librarian in southern Maryland. “It was definitely appealing to me.” Vaccines, she felt, would help ease her concerns about whether a congregate living situation would be safe for her parents, and for her to visit them; she has lupus, an autoimmune condition. (Kwon, 2/19)

KHN: Journalists Field Questions On Covid Coverage 

KHN Montana correspondent Katheryn Houghton discussed Thursday on Newsy how covid’s impact on disabled group housing isn’t tracked. ... California Healthline senior correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester shared updates on California’s vaccine rollout on KALW’s “Your Call” on Thursday. (2/19)

The coronavirus vaccine is so coveted that two women in Florida went to extremes Wednesday to get inoculated: They dressed as if they were elderly, health officials said. The women, both younger than 45, “dressed up as grannies,” wearing bonnets, gloves and glasses to disguise themselves as older than 65, the age cutoff to be prioritized to get the coronavirus vaccine in Florida, according to Raul Pino, the director of the health department in Orange County, where Orlando is located. He attributed the deception to growing interest in the vaccine, giving the example of the women while explaining how high demand is in the area. (Kornfield, 2/18)