Registration websites have crashed. Endless waits on phone lines have frustrated people seeking appointments or simple information. And some private health care centers have been unable to work through bureaucracies to get doses to the right people, at times wasting opened vaccines or giving them to people far down the priority list. In Florida, older residents camped on lawn chairs outside centers waiting for their shots.
State health department officials say they are happy to have the Guard’s ability to put up tents in 15 minutes and turn to a bevy of skilled personnel to quickly scale up and change direction when steps like registration are bogged down.
POLITICO
Trump’s abrupt shift on Covid shots may sow more chaos
And the changes come amid mounting disagreements over who is to blame for the slower-than-expected rollout of the vaccine.
Robert Redfield (left), director of the CDC, walks past HHS Secretary Alex Azar to speak about Operation Warp Speed and Covid-19 vaccine distribution on Jan. 12. | AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool
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Trump administration health officials blindsided states on Tuesday with an abrupt and dramatic shift in how they’ll distribute coronavirus vaccines that may set up new hurdles for the Biden transition team.
The administration plans to punish states that don’t move fast enough on vaccinations or that fail to provide the government real-time reports on inoculations. Trump officials also urged states to immediately start vaccinating anyone 65 and over or with high-risk medical conditions.
The Trump administration announced sweeping changes to its vaccination rollout on Tuesday, including making all of the coronavirus vaccine supply immediately available, urging states to provide shots to anyone 65 and older and warning that states with lagging inoculations will lose some of their shots to speedier places.
Updated 2:20 p.m. ET The Trump administration is making several big changes to its COVID-19 vaccine distribution strategy, officials announced Tuesday, in