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Morning Briefing

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Monday, Mar 1 2021

Full Issue

With 80% Of Adults Unvaccinated, US Expands Efforts To Get Shots In Arms

The good news is that the pace is picking up and more mass vaccination sites are opening to bump up the volume. But many sign-up hurdles remain.

Just over 2.4 million coronavirus vaccinations were reported to the CDC on Sunday, matching Saturday's record-high for inoculations as seen in Bloomberg's vaccine tracker. (Rummier, 2/28)

Nearly 1 in 5 adults and nearly half of Americans 65 and older have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt said on Friday. (Fernandez, 2/26)

As impressive as the scientific advancements have been, getting shots into people's arms has been plagued by bad weather, bad logistics and bad information.聽The Biden administration's coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients, in his first television interview since taking the job, tells us there has been real progress over the past month on vaccine distribution. But with just over 50 million vaccine doses given since President Biden took office, the American public still needs patience. (Whitaker, 2/28)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout 鈥

The sites are one sign of growing momentum toward vaccinating every willing American adult. Johnson & Johnson鈥檚 single-dose vaccine won emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday, and both Moderna and Pfizer have promised much larger weekly shipments of vaccines by early spring. In addition to using mass sites, President Biden wants pharmacies, community clinics that serve the poor and mobile vaccination units to play major roles in increasing the vaccination rate. (Goodnough, 2/28)

The state-supported COVID-19 vaccine site that had been at Tampa鈥檚 University Mall will move to Raymond James Stadium on Monday. The decision to permanently relocate mass vaccinations to the stadium鈥檚 Lot 14 parking lot comes after the University Mall location reached gridlock in mid-February with long lines and confusion. (Ross, 2/28)

Utah is canceling about 7,200 coronavirus vaccine appointments after an error in the state health department鈥檚 registration website allowed people without qualifying conditions to register for the shots. Department spokesman Tom Hudachko said in a statement that the error allowed residents who are not 65 or older or who don鈥檛 have an underlying medical condition to sign up. (2/28)

So far, drugstore giants CVS and Walgreens and big-box stores like Walmart and Kroger have been getting the lion鈥檚 share of vaccines from the initial allotment devoted to retail pharmacies, independent pharmacists say. But community pharmacies, they argue, can play a critical role in delivering COVID-19 shots,聽so they're frustrated that they aren鈥檛 receiving as many vaccines proportionally as major chains are getting from the federal, state and local governments. They say their personal relationships with their customers are crucial to a successful vaccine rollout, and they reject the suggestion that they don't have the technology necessary to handling the scheduling process.聽(Bomey, 3/1)

"Saturday Night Live" took shots at the country's sluggish vaccination rollout, which has been plagued by shortages, site closures and questions over who should be prioritized for inoculation. The show opened with a spoof of a game show, "So You Think You Can Get the Vaccine," in which contestants vie for a chance at getting shots. "Getting the vaccine shouldn鈥檛 be a competition, but Americans will only want to get it if it means someone else can鈥檛," said the host, Dr. Anthony Fauci, played by Kate McKinnon. (Romero, 2/28)

Also 鈥

Widely-used Microsoft Corp. vaccine scheduling software that has run into difficulties in states like Iowa and New Jersey is being blamed for problems that left some residents of the nation鈥檚 capital unable to book appointments. After three straight days of issues with the District of Columbia鈥檚 online vaccination registration, the Redmond, Washington-based technology company released a statement along with the city government acknowledging 鈥渢hat our efforts have fallen short鈥 and vowing to address the problems. 鈥淲e understand the frustration of individuals who attempted to utilize the District鈥檚 vaccination appointment portal this week,鈥 they said. 鈥淲e are committed to address technical issues so that the vaccination appointment portal is properly functional and accessible.鈥 (Natter and Bass, 2/28)

As the nation takes on one of the largest logistical challenges in history with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination program, many Americans have asked why Big Tech can't run the operation. If Amazon can deliver a phone charger in two days, why can鈥檛 it use its logistical prowess to speedily vaccinate a nation? With all of the data that Google collects about its users, why can鈥檛 it track down and identify who needs a vaccination? That鈥檚 largely because when it comes to getting a phone charger delivered, a company like Amazon handles every step of the process, from taking the order to delivery. But when it comes to vaccine distribution, tech companies have learned they have far less control. The federal government is paying for the needed medication and is managing the supply to the states. Then, states, counties and corporations take over and figure out how to get vaccines into arms. So while Big Tech is certainly playing a role in the vaccine rollout, it鈥檚 not exactly how people may expect. (Farivar and Glaser, 2/27)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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