Throughout the last few weeks, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, has helped to debunk myths about the new vaccine, warned us that holiday gatherings could overwhelm hospitals with COVID-19 patients, and commented in disbelief when states were told they would get fewer doses of the vaccine than they were initially told.
Now, Jha said he’s “incredibly frustrated” with how slowly the vaccine is being rolled out across the country.
In a thread on Twitter late Monday night, Jha noted that in October, the public was promised 100 million vaccine doses by the end of this month by Alex Azar, secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That number dropped to 40 million last month.
This month, Azar said there would be 20 million doses administered by the end of the year, and 20 million reserved for the second dose, Jha noted. That deadline will also be blown.
“Now, we’ll miss 20M deadline but might be able to get to 20M by sometime in early January,” Jha said. “But this is really not the worst part. The worst part is no real planning on what happens when vaccines arrive in states. No plan, no money, just hope that states will figure this out.”
Now, we’ll miss 20M deadline but might be able to get to 20M by sometime in early January
But this is really not the worst part
The worst part is no real planning on what happens when vaccines arrive in states
No plan, no money, just hope that states will figure this out
4/n
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
At the state level, he said administering the vaccine will likely fall on state departments of health, which have also had to handle testing, analysis of data, plus give advice to various sectors – schools, businesses, etc.
“So DOHs adding vaccines to their plate,” he said. “Most are super stretched and they are trying to make a plan. They are trying to stand up a vaccination infrastructure. Congress had given them no money. States are out of money. So many are passing it on to hospitals, nursing homes.”
“Did we not know that vaccines were coming?,” Jha asked.
Read his thread on the vaccine rollout:
So a lot of chatter happening on the slow vaccine roll out
Personally, I’m incredibly frustrated.
Did we not know that vaccines were coming? Is vaccine administration a surprise?
Several complex issues so lets break things down a bit
Warning, this is a bit of a rant
Thread
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Here’s Azar in @thehill saying 40 million by end of the year
In December, Operation Warp Speed says 20 million doses will be out by end of year, they’ll keep the other 20M in reserve for 2nd dose. Fine
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
So who manages state level? Departments of Health mostly
These well-funded agencies (yes, I’m kidding) who manage all the testing, data analysis & reporting, providing advice to businesses, schools, doing public campaigns, etc
Non-stop. For 9 months
They get vaccines too
5/n
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Any of this familiar?
Like our national testing debacle, being repeated
And now, hospitals and clinics are scrambling to figure out how to implement
This article from @CNN is helpful
There is one line in this piece that drove me crazyhttps://t.co/UZYojipuAr
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
To be sure, many states are taking real responsibility
LOTS of overburdened public health folks are still making this work. Heroically
But now hospitals trying to figure out where to set up vaccination sites. And folks sorting out who can do vaccinations in care facilities
8/n
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
There appears to be no investment or plan in the last mile
No effort from Feds to help states launch a real vaccination infrastructure
Did the Feds not know vaccines were coming?
Shouldn’t planning around vaccination sites, etc not have happened in October or November?
10/11
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Congress finally passed $ for vax distribution
States now building infrastructure. Should have been built by Feds months ago
After a slow ramp up, it’ll get better
We’re learning again we can’t fight pandemic with every state on its own
An effective federal govt helps
Fin
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Addendum@SpoxHHS are pushing back on this thread
Their point?
Over past 9 months, on average, states/territories got $6M each, yes Million, for vaccine readiness
True
So not “no money” Just trivial $
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 29, 2020
Get Boston.com’s e-mail alerts:
Sign up and receive coronavirus news and breaking updates, from our newsroom to your inbox.
