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Ongoing vaccination struggles in states underscore the challenges Biden response teams face as they parachute into communities where unvaccinated people are suspicious of anyone advocating for the Covid shots. The situation also highlights how – nearly 18 months after the start of the pandemic – federal and state leaders still struggle to respond in real time to emerging hotspots, often slowed down by local politics and logistical hurdles.
“We’ve heard that FEMA officials will be coming to this area and coordinating with the state. Some of them are already helping with epidemiology, ”said Fermin Leguen, district health officer in southern Nevada. “But we are still waiting to find out what more they will do to help our vaccination campaign.”
A White House official said the administration was working with governors and local public health officials “to make sure they have the support they need to curb the spread of the virus and increase vaccinations in their state “.
In many cases, the White House and state officials are still in the process of determining what resources are needed. The president’s call for a “door-to-door” vaccination campaign earlier this month drew swift reprimands from Republican governors, but there are less intrusive ways for the administration to help , said the two senior administration officials.
In recent days, FEMA has sent dozens of employees to Nevada, where hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the past two weeks. Federal staff will work to expand Covid-19 testing and canvass neighborhoods to talk to unvaccinated people about receiving the vaccine. The administration also sent teams of 1 to 2 people to a handful of other southern and western states. Federal officials are helping Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, and Arkansas with genomic sequencing and outbreak investigations.
But many other states are on hold.
“There have been recent discussions among the leadership of the Wyoming pandemic over various federal resources that could be made available to support us here, but no firm plan has been defined,” said Kim Deti, spokesperson. of the Wyoming Department of Public Health.
Privately, at least two senior administration officials are skeptical that federal staff can do much to increase vaccination rates, especially in conservative areas where skepticism of Covid vaccines and the government is high. The next few weeks and months of the vaccination campaign will be slow, these officials said, and should fall largely to political and health leaders trusted by the local community.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who spoke to the White House for help from an emergency team, is traveling across the state to try to increase vaccination rates. Arkansas now administers the first doses to fewer than 17,000 people each week, according to the CDC. Despite the stalled vaccination campaign and an increase in cases caused by the Delta variant, the state has no plans to mandate the mask or new restrictions on gatherings.
But several other Republican governors ignore vaccination plans or actively undermine the effort.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he was opposed to federal officials coming to Missouri to help with the vaccination campaign, while South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster warned state agencies against collaboration with anyone in the White House who promotes immunization. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said his state had “no intention of participating in the federal government’s door-to-door initiative” and that the federal government had not offered to do so. make.
And in Tennessee, the health department this week fired Michelle Fiscus, the state’s top vaccine official, after lawmakers alleged the department was encouraging teens to get vaccinated even without their permission. parents.
“The morale of my colleagues is really very low,” she told POLITICO. “We just worked 90 hours a week trying to launch vaccines in our states… and a lot of those who are eligible have refused to receive it.”
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