Teachers push back, churches in court, National Guard: News from around our 50 states
From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Montgomery: The state is getting roughly half as much COVID-19 vaccine as it was expecting based on federal plans announced last year, officials said Friday, meaning it would take more than two years to vaccinate the adult population without improvement. The state has 800 approved vaccination sites and is trying to deliver shots as quickly as it can, but supply issues have been the biggest hindrance to state vaccination efforts, said Dr. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health. “Every state had the idea that they were going to get much more vaccine than they ultimately got,” he said. “I assume this is related to optimistic projections and the inability of manufacturers to keep up that. … There just wasn’t enough vaccine to go around.” Alabama health officials were expecting to get more than 112,000 COVID-19 vaccination doses a week based on conversations with federal officials when Operation Warp Speed began last year. Instead, officials said, the state is getting about 50,000 to 60,000 doses a week. Harris said federal officials later said the 112,000 figure was not a promise but a figure that the state should use in its planning.