Associated Press
New York’s governor threatened to fine hospitals if they don’t use their allotment of COVID-19 vaccine fast enough. His South Carolina counterpart warned health care workers they have until Jan. 15 to get a shot or move to the back of the line. California’s governor wants to use dentists to vaccinate people.
With frustration rising over the sluggish rollout of the vaccine, state leaders and other politicians around the U.S. are turning up the pressure, improvising and seeking to bend the rules to get shots in arms more quickly.
Meanwhile, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that the government will allow more drugstores to start giving vaccinations to speed up the process. If health workers aren’t lining up fast enough, he said, it is OK to expand eligibility to lower-priority groups.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks on the U.S. response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., December 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden will aim to release more available doses of coronavirus vaccine when he takes office, a departure from Trump administration strategy of holding back a supply to make sure second doses are available, a spokesman said on Friday.
“The President-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine while continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible,” TJ Ducklo, a spokesman for Biden’s transition, told Reuters.
Biden plans to release of nearly all available vaccine doses to speed inoculations
Amy Goldstein, Laurie McGinley, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Fenit Nirappil, The Washington Post
Jan. 8, 2021
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WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden plans to release nearly all available doses of the coronavirus vaccine once he takes office, seeking to speed up the sluggish start of a mass vaccination campaign as cases soar, hospitals are overwhelmed and a faster-spreading form of the virus has invaded the country.
The plan, announced Friday by the Biden transition team, pivots sharply from the Trump administration s strategy of holding in reserve roughly half the doses to ensure sufficient supply for people to get a required second shot.
Updated 10:08 a.m. ET, January 9, 2021
What you need to know
The US reported more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths in a single day for the first time during the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University data showed.
The UK has introduced mandatory coronavirus testing for all international arrivals and extended a southern Africa travel ban to curb a new Covid-19 variant.
China has locked down Shijiazhuang,
a city of 11 million people in Hebei province, in an effort to contain the country s worst coronavirus flare-up in months.
Australia s Greater Brisbane has entered a three-day lockdown to stop the spread of the UK strain of Covid-19.