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“They are going to take advantage of the learning curve,” said Vijay Samant, a former Merck executive who oversaw the production of three successful vaccines during his tenure. Samant said vaccine makers have had months to resolve supply bottlenecks and manufacturing still needs to ramp up in the coming months – a boon to the Biden administration.
“They can get a lot of credit because all of a sudden, doses of the vaccine are going to become available and it’s ‘Oh, well, we did,'” Samant said. “Let me tell you, this is how it works. They are on the right side of the curve.”
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, appeared equally optimistic on Thursday, predicting that vaccine supply will increase rapidly in February and March. The governor had just made a call with Pfizer, in which the company “reiterated its intention to significantly increase production in February,” said governor spokesperson Max Reiss. Much of this surge is taking place before the Biden administration even took action under the Defense Production Act.
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Biden’s chief medical adviser expressed confidence in the president’s seemingly ambitious goal of vaccinating 100 million people in his first 100 days.
“I’m pretty confident it won’t just be that, but maybe even better,” Fauci said, adding that he had looked at the contractual agreements that had been made. “The amount that will arrive, we will be able to achieve that goal.”
Yet questions remain about the current state of vaccine supply in the United States. The new administration has touted strong federal plans to launch massive vaccination sites and deploy mobile units to hard-hit communities, while some states are canceling appointments at existing vaccination sites, citing a lack of supplies in vaccines.
Biden’s team said they were flying somewhat blind when it came to the vaccine supply and how it was distributed across the country. A source close to the transition told CNN that Biden’s team were denied access to the critical resources they needed to accurately assess supply and prepare to take over the deployment before Biden does not take office.
“The cooperation or lack of cooperation funds from the Trump administration has been an obstacle,” said Jeff Zients, White House coordinator of Covid-19. “So we don’t have the visibility that we hope to have on the offer and the allocations.”
Granted, there are still not enough vaccines available – in the United States or around the world – and the United States has stumbled to get gunshots in the arms quickly. But the Biden administration also appears to be trying to manage expectations, playing on the mess left by the Trump administration while figuring out concrete steps it can take to improve vaccine manufacturing and distribution.
The Biden administration has not clearly defined what it is doing to immediately improve vaccine supply, except to task agencies to seek opportunities to use the Defense Production Act.
Biden “remains absolutely committed to invoking the Defense Production Act to provide the supplies and equipment needed to distribute the vaccine to Americans across the country and remains committed to his goal of getting 100 million shots to the arm Americans in the first 100 days, ”White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
The White House did not address how they would communicate or work with states, but in a statement to CNN spokesman Kevin Munoz reiterated that they would “listen to the unique needs of states and tailor resources and the federal government directions accordingly to ensure that we get vaccines into the arms of Americans as quickly and safely as possible. “
White House officials said they have asked the Department of Health and Human Services to look for all potential sources of a type of syringe that can help extract more doses of the Pfizer vaccine from each vial. On Thursday, Biden said he would sign an executive order to use the Defense Production Act to order federal agencies and private industries “to speed up the manufacturing of whatever is needed to protect, test, vaccinate and care for. of our people “.
A former administration official told CNN that the Trump administration has already implemented the Defense Production Act to help each of the six vaccine makers, as well as the needle and syringe contracts.
“We will work with special attention to all components of the supply chain to ensure that manufacturing meets what we need,” Tim Manning, Covid’s home supply coordinator, told reporters. White. “The Defense Production Act is a powerful tool – a powerful tool set – and we can use it in many ways to ensure that there are adequate and growing supplies of vaccine.
Samant, the vaccine expert, said the administration would be better off focusing on the availability of raw materials like lipids rather than specialized syringes.
“It’s like the most ridiculous thing to pursue,” Samant said of increasing syringe production, adding that such a move could, at best, improve vaccine supply by 5%.
For the Biden team, understanding how much supply is available and how much could realistically be available in the months to come is essential. States have said they need clear and consistent guidance on vaccine procurement so they can continue to streamline their immunization programs.
“We’re going to work to provide projections on supply. We hear time and time again from governors and local leaders that they just don’t know what supply is coming and can’t plan. happening, make sure we communicate with states and localities, so they can prepare effectively, ”Zients added.
According to a health official involved in the vaccine distribution process, hospitals receiving the Moderna vaccine have complained that they are completely in the dark when they receive it and how much they are receiving and, in some cases, have been sent to scramble when ‘they received surprise mailings. . Moderna declined to comment.
All these problems now land squarely on the knees of the new administration.
Some state officials said they were already concerned with the administration’s plan to allocate vaccines and communicate with states.
Under the previous administration, then-vice president Mike Pence and members of the Covid task force held regular calls with governors across the country during most of the pandemic. While some governors found the appeals largely unnecessary, they could at least rely on the briefings as an opportunity to hear from high-ranking medical experts and ask questions of the administration.
A day after Biden took office, state officials told CNN that there was still a lot of confusion about how states would work and communicate with the Biden administration as the pandemic continued to unfold. increase and that the distribution of vaccines is unfortunately late.
According to a Republican state official, the National Association of Governors has contacted some of its governors to work with the Biden administration on Covid. However, not all governors are members of the organization, and how the administration plans to work with those outside the association remains unclear.
A Democratic state official said they too had had no regular communication with the new administration.
Dr Bechara Choucair, the White House immunization coordinator, has been in contact with some governors but has not explained how the administration would approach vaccine allocations.
Biden said Thursday that each state would be assigned a liaison with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But in a press briefing on Thursday, Psaki could not offer more details on how the Biden administration will improve communications with states.
The new Covid team, she said, “will engage with governors, Democrats and Republicans, mayors, local elected officials, to better understand what is happening on the ground.”
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