The best chance to defeat the coronavirus pandemic is being hampered by supply issues and dysfunction, says one prominent infectious disease expert.
“What I think is happening is it’s just very uncoordinated and mismatched across the country,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on the U.S. vaccine distribution program. “We have places that are doing okay, some places are not doing very well at all, and I don’t think that any of it is conducive to a smooth rollout of this vaccination program and I think we’ll have this rocky status to it for some months to come.”
Dr. Adalja says that while the Biden administration has promised to increase supply, straighten out the distribution system and provide more transparency and communication to vaccine centers, issues remain.
“The biggest glitch that I find is just getting people signed up, that people don’t know how to do this. It’s very difficult to do. They basically have to have multiple websites open as if they’re looking for concert tickets for a Madonna concert or something like that, rather than actually getting a lifesaving vaccine.”
But Dr. Adalja says there is still reason to be hopeful.
“I do think having an easier vaccine to administer, a single dose vaccine - which the FDA will hopefully approve in the next couple of weeks - will make it much easier.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only one dose and does not need ultra-cold storage, is currently being reviewed by the FDA.
“That’s gonna make it much easier, because maybe you can get this done at your doctor’s office, at your corner drugstore.”
The CDC reports that over 38 million Americans have received at least the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.