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The coronavirus vaccine will not be widely available in U.S. pharmacies by the end of February as previously promised, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
“We will, as part of our plan, put the vaccine in pharmacies. Will it be in all pharmacies across the country by then? I don’t think so, ”Dr Rochelle Walensky told The Today Show.
“I don’t think that by the end of February we will have vaccines in all pharmacies in this country.”
In mid-December, Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC, “I believe by the end of February, the end of March, of course, depending on the decisions. of our governors, but I believe we will have enough supply to reach the general public for administration – at your CVS, Walgreens, Kroegers – by the end of February through March. ”
Walensky reiterated the Biden administration’s commitment to deliver 100 million doses in the first 100 days, and said he would work to speed up and smooth the production and distribution of life-saving injections.
“After 100 days, there are still a lot of Americans who need a vaccine, so we have our pedal to the metal to make sure we can get that many vaccines there,” she says. “We recognize that this is the most immediate emergency to get this country back to health.”
She said CDC officials had been working for weeks to ensure that “vaccine eligibility matches supply” and that there are enough medical staff at inoculation sites.
“The whole basis on which we deploy vaccines must be based on equity and we are committed to it,” she added.
In early December, an official for Trump’s Operation Warp Speed said he hoped to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of February.
“Between mid-December and the end of February, we will have potentially vaccinated 100 million people,” said Moncef Slaoui, the scientific adviser of the operation at the time.
As of Thursday, the United States had administered 17.5 million doses of the vaccine, according to the CDC.
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