NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A month into vaccine distribution, the Tri-State has seen a mixed record of success getting shots into arms.
Jason Schwartz, a health policy professor at Yale, sees it as a rapidly swinging pendulum—either officials are micro-managing or it’s a free for all.
“States that are doing a better job tend to have found a middle ground, where they are thinking about prioritization guidelines. They're strongly supporting their implementation, but they're providing a bit of flexibility,” Schwartz said.
He sees this disjointed process, with a maze of websites, under-staffed hotlines and mass confusion as reflective of the pandemic response as a whole.
“We're seeing this fragmented vaccination rollout, which kind of reflects the design of the Trump administration. They decided to leave this responsibility to states and cities more or less on their own,” Schwartz said.
He said rules that change at state, county or city lines can make a complicated process that much more challenging.
“And we know that that challenge is only going to get harder. Right now, this is as easy as it gets,” Schwartz said.
He said it’s time for a reset, which the Biden administration can provide starting next week.
“It's a reminder that preparedness matters. Preparedness matters for all sort of things, but particularly for a health crisis,” Schwartz said.