Joe Biden will tell states to give vaccines to essential workers and over 65s IMMEDIATELY to stop 'doses sitting in freezers un-used' calling current system 'rigid and confusing'
President-elect Joe Biden instructed states to give COVID-19 vaccines to all essential workers and Americans over 65 immediately, to stop doses from lingering on shelves.
'The process of establishing priority groups was driven by science, but the problem - the implementation has been too rigid and confusing,' Biden said. That has caused 'tens of millions of doses of vaccines sitting unused in a freezer,' he said.
Biden spoke Friday from Wilmington, Delaware about his vaccination plan after calling the Trump effort 'dismal' in a Thursday night address about Congressional funding he'll need to right the pandemic response. He used the same adjective Friday.
The Trump administration left it up to states and localities to define priority groups, but that has often meant wasted doses when, for instance, medical professionals didn't show up for their vaccination appointments.
'If you were to ask most people today, they couldn’t tell you who exactly should be getting vaccinated,' Biden observed.
Biden also confirmed CNN's reporting last week that he wants to release a majority of vaccine doses in the U.S., under the theory that it's better to get more Americans one shot than fewer people two.
'Let me be clear: we are not changing the FDA’s recommended dosing schedule. We believe it is critical that everyone should get two doses within that FDA recommended timeframe,' he said Friday.
However, the Washington Post reported Friday that when Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar made the same call - to release the stockpiled doses - no such stockpile existed.
The two approved vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, are two-shot regimens.
President-elect Joe Biden rolled out his plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines after calling President Donald Trump's operation 'dismal' Thursday night in Wilmington (pictured)
David Cheng, director of inpatient pharmacy, places trays of the Pfize vaccine into a freezer at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. Biden said Friday he wants to expand the first priority group to all Americans over 65 and all essential workers to prevent the vaccine supply from going bad
President-elect Joe Biden wants to set up federal centers so there are major places where the shots of the vaccine can be given
President Donald Trump called his administration's push for a fast COVID-19 vaccine Operation Warp Speed. The Biden team plans to dump that branding
The president-elect said he would 'move heaven and earth' to pick up the pace of vaccines being put in Americans' arms. He'll debut a vaccine distribution plan later Friday in Wilmington
Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained on Twitter Friday that OWS - Operation Warp Speed' - used to describe the U.S. government's rapid push for a COVID-19 vaccine would have a different name under the Biden administration
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