\n\n“States scrambling to deploy millions of coronavirus vaccines are resorting to drastic measures as they wait for federal aid to help speed mass inoculations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With about 4.8 million of the approximately 17 milliondosesshipped out by the federal government administered, state leaders like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are threatening steepfines for health providers that don\u2019t use up all their shots this week;others are calling on retired health care workers, dentists and even veterinarians to staff vaccination sites. And many are reworking their carefully crafted distribution plans on the fly to get older Americans the shots sooner amid spiking infection rates and news that a more transmissible strain of the virus has reached the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The patchwork of responses comes as desperate governors are facing a vacuum of federal support, along with dire funding and workforce shortages that are hampering the pace of the rollout. Though Trump administration officials predict vaccination rates will pick up this week,the White House’s coronavirus task force has not convened a call with governors since Dec. 21. States have not yet seen the nearly $9 billion Congress approved to help vaccine distribution<\/a> in a late December relief package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we need from the federal government is for them to have started vaccine distribution planning much earlier in the year last year,\u201d said Casey Katims, a federal liaison for Washington state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump administration officials have repeatedly said that getting shots into arms is states\u2019 responsibility. But it\u2019s not clear whether states\u2019 emergency measures will be enough to get the most ambitious inoculation campaign in U.S. history back on track. And the mishmash of state approaches is creating growing disparities around the country in who can get the vaccine. Some pharmacists have started offering leftover doses of the coveted vaccine to the general public before they spoil. In other parts of the country, people at high risk \u2014 including frontline workers \u2014 are still waiting for their shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe distribution is moving slower than people had hoped,\u201d said Clay Marsh, West Virginia\u2019s Covid-19 czar. \u201cWe are not satisfied because we want to get vaccines in every West Virginian\u2019s arm, but this is a massively complicated process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials with Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration\u2019s vaccine accelerator, have said that holidays, snowstorms and a significant reporting lag contributed to the smaller-than-expected vaccination numbers in December. More than 2.6 million people were inoculated out of the 20 million the federal government had repeatedly promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Administration officials rejected the notion that they have not given states adequate support. Federal officials talk to states multiple times a week and monitor statewide data to \u201clearn how we can better assist future efforts,\u201d a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said. And Vice President Mike Pence’s office said that the White House coronavirus task force is planning a call with governors for later this week or early next after not convening over the holidays. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n