SOURCE: CNN
States across the country say they’re running low on coronavirus vaccine supply, with many officials insisting the vaccine delivery numbers reported by the Trump administration don’t align with what they are seeing on the ground.
From New York to Tennessee to West Virginia, officials are clamoring for more doses of coronavirus vaccine. And officials in those states said that federal tallies suggesting they have thousands of doses sitting on the shelves don’t accurately reflect the supply of vaccine on hand.
The confusion around vaccine supply — and the gap between what officials said is happening locally and the numbers the Trump administration is reporting — presents an immediate challenge for the incoming Biden administration.
A source close to the Biden transition team said there is enormous concern among the incoming administration about the accuracy of the numbers that have been released by the federal government. It was only within the last few days that the transition team was given access to Tiberius, the system that shows states how many doses are available to them and allows states to determine delivery locations.
Until then, the team was working solely off numbers they received from manufacturers, unable to cross check and confirm.
All of this means the Biden team still isn’t sure what it will be confronted with when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Wednesday. Despite frustration, the source said Biden’s team has been hesitant to broadcast just how they were left in the dark out of concern that the Trump administration would stop cooperating altogether.
“This is a very confusing time for understanding these numbers and as we talk more and more to the Biden administration, we’re learning that they are trying to sort this out as well,” Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), told CNN on Tuesday. “With the change of administration happening at this very moment, they don’t appear to totally know yet what vaccine numbers we’re talking about and what is the reality.”
Trump administration officials, meantime, said they have held hundreds of meetings with the incoming Biden coronavirus team.
“This is a concerted effort by the new team to down-talk where things are, so they could look like heroes when they come in and just carry forward the momentum that we have established,” outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Fox News on Monday.
Mounting challenges for Biden’s team
By the CDC’s count, more than 31 million doses of vaccine have been distributed and less than half — roughly 12.3 million shots — have been administered, as of Friday.
But states said there’s no way half their doses are sitting on shelves or in freezers.
A number of factors could be contributing to the confusion. The CDC’s distribution numbers reflect the doses that have been shipped, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have been received yet. The federal totals also include doses that have been earmarked for nursing home residents and those vaccinations have been recorded more slowly, according to health officials.
Some vaccines may have also been distributed to clinics or providers that are moving at a slower pace. In some cases, resource-depleted states have determined it’s easier to keep those doses where they are rather than attempt the complicated process of transporting and redistributing them.
“It’s not practical for states to consider trying to recall them or move them. It’s better for states to support these providers in getting them into arms,” said Claire Hannan, executive director for the Association of Immunization Managers.
Unwinding exactly what’s mucking up the numbers — and speeding up the supply of vaccine — will ultimately be a problem that falls to the incoming Biden administration.
“For example, in Minnesota, we’re moving vaccine through as quickly as we can and our numbers for vaccination are far different than what has been described as distributed,” Michael Osterholm, a member of Biden’s coronavirus advisory board, told CNN on Tuesday. “So that’s one of the challenges — that’s where states have been frustrated because they’ve been getting caught in people perceiving there’s a lot more vaccine available than there really is.”
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