Biden’s 100-day vaccine goal was almost met before he arrived

Photographer: Bing Guan / Bloomberg

The United States is set to deliver Covid-19 vaccines at a rate of one million doses per day, suggesting that the Biden administration’s 100 million doses in 100 days target could be a modest aspiration.

In the week Biden was sworn in as president, nearly 983,000 shots per day were administered on average over the seven days ending Friday, according to data from Bloomberg Vaccine Tracking. The last three days have passed one million doses.

Biden’s goal, in essence, is not to go back. He made it a theme of his presidential campaign to criticize the previous administration’s handling of the pandemic – including the rollout of the vaccine that fell well short of promises by then-President Donald Trump. At the current rate of about 1 million shots per day, it would take nearly 18 months to vaccinate 80% of the American population.

“God willing, we’re not just going to make 100 million, we’re going to do more than that,” Biden told the White House on Friday.

Biden’s Million-Shots-a-Day Goal Underwhelms

Almost 983,000 doses per day were administered the week he was sworn in

Source: Bloomberg Covid-19 Vaccine Tracking

Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said Thursday that vaccinating 70 to 85 percent of the country by the end of the summer would return to normal. To do this, 460 million to 560 million doses would have to be administered, with current vaccines requiring a first vaccine followed by a booster. It’s more than double the rate of Biden Objective of 100 days.

Biden “takes into account whatever could go right – and also what could go wrong – and he makes a measured decision on who to aim for,” said Vivek Murthy, Biden’s choice for the US surgeon general. “But make no mistake, his goal is not just to achieve that, but to exceed it. But we have to remove the stops. “

Pressed Thursday on the goal of 100 million doses, the press secretary of the White House, Jen Psaki, explained the calculations behind the thinking of the administration. She said under Trump 17 million doses were given in the first 38 days, for an average rate of less than 500,000 per day, and Biden’s team hoped to double that.

Bloomberg data shows the rate has risen significantly since the first few weeks of the rollout. A more ambitious plan would be to double the current vaccination rate – not the average rate during the first phase of vaccine distribution. This is what some Republicans have called for.

“America is already on track for 100 million in 100 days,” Steve Scalise, Republican No. 2 House leader, said on Twitter. “Biden could make 200 million in 100 days. Republicans would back him. Thanks to Trump, he’s already halfway there. ”

60.3 million shots worldwide: Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker

In the early days of the vaccination campaign, the doses were administered in a trickle. By the time Biden took office, the federal government was making more than 8 million doses per week available through its distribution program, according to allocation figures from the Department of Health and Human Services. The shots go into the arms almost as quickly.

These figures include the first and second doses of Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. vaccines. In total, the United States has made available 65 million doses that can be ordered through the end of January and will be shipped within weeks. following. Of these, nearly 40 million have already been shipped, according to the CDC.

The United States has spent more than any country in the world to help accelerate vaccine development and deployment. He got more than a billion doses from six companies before any of the vaccines were approved. Despite all the criticism that has been leveled at the early escapees of the vaccine deployment, the United States still leads the world in terms of vaccines administered and is fifth in the world on a per capita basis.

U.S. ranks fifth in shots per capita

The Trump administration has also set itself ambitious goals, aiming to have hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of 2020 and a rapid pace of vaccinations to keep up. He reduced those goals after not having as many vaccines available as he had hoped.

“You fail to achieve one hundred percent of the goals you don’t set for yourself,” Alex Azar, the Trump administration’s health secretary, said in an interview last month. He said the administration’s revised goals for 2021 were to make sure enough vaccines were available for every American who wanted one.

The acceleration of the vaccination campaign is not without problems. States have said they have little long-term visibility on the offer they are offered and that there may be significant delays between when the CDC indicates that doses are being shipped and when they arrive. Actually. States like West Virginia and North Dakota operate on thin vaccine supply cushions, having used more than 70% of the vaccines shipped to them.

“There are many problems. We’re going to tackle them and achieve our bold goal of 100m shots in 100 days, ”Ron Klain, Biden Chief of Staff said on twitter Friday morning. “It won’t be easy, smooth or without setbacks. But we’ll get there.

New vaccines coming soon

The supply of vaccines and the pace of vaccinations could accelerate rapidly when new vaccines are allowed to be used. A vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has enough data to start analyzing now, and could have results in a week or two, Fauci said this week. The Food and Drug Administration moved within days to authorize vaccine requests based on early results.