Armstrong Williams | Posted: Jan 29, 2021
12:01 AM The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not
necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
We remember
reading in the Scripture that the Father has his sun rise on the just and the
unjust. The light and warmth emanate immediately and without hesitation over
the whole of Creation. This is the model that we need to bear in mind as we
consider the dissemination of the two COVID-19 vaccines, even as this
pestilence gathers momentum, leaves hundreds of thousands of us dead in its
wake and brings to ruin the economic security of millions among us.
To date, the
dissemination of the vaccine has been halting, sporadic and ham-handed. The
federal government has distributed more than 35 million doses and less than
half of those have actually been delivered to patients.
There are
true logistical hurdles that, understandably, hamper the process. The Pfizer
and Moderna vaccines both require cold storage. Distribution of the vaccine
needs to be prioritized in keeping with state guidelines, themselves often
patterned after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. As
both currently available vaccines require a second dose some weeks following
the first, careful online and paper records need to be maintained of who has
been vaccinated and when, as well as when the second dose is due. Still, all
these hurdles were evident as far back as June 2020. The public-private
partnership that provided two extraordinarily safe and effective vaccines with
breathtaking speed has now stumbled at the finish line. Former Health and Human
Services official Dr. Bruce Gellin commented that they "didn't plan for the
last inch of the last mile."
One large
university medical center in New England recently canceled their distribution
to health care workers, pointing out that they did not know how many doses they
would receive. Weeks later, they said that they learned what number they would
receive just days prior to their arrival. State guidelines then changed.
Initially, instructions were to hold dosing to be sure the second dose was
delivered. That changed, and the university was directed to administer what
they had. On Dec. 31, 2020, the state directed that doses again be held to
ensure that second dose be delivered. Six days later, the directive changed yet
again.
There are,
though, success stories. The state of West Virginia has distributed 83 percent
of its supply and relied not on chain pharmacies and nursing homes but on local
pharmacies and enlisting the National Guard. Maj. Gen. James Hoyer said:
"We have taken 10,000 square feet of our National Guard headquarters and
turned it into a command center with representatives from all levels of state
government. ... Young soldiers and airmen are out distributing the vaccine
across the state. We run this like a military convoy." They were not hidebound
to the CDC guidelines that prioritized who received the vaccine first. West
Virginia opted to inoculate all citizens over 70, firefighters and police
officers and those 50 years of age or older employed in essential manufacturing
jobs. West Virginia is among the poorest states in the union and yet leads the
nation in the percent of its vaccine supply delivered into the arms of its
citizens.
Heavily
regulated New York state, on the other hand, lagged in using its vaccine
allotment earlier on, having demanded strict adherence to its instructions as
to who should be first in line for vaccination and threatening vaccine
providers with huge financial penalties if they deviated from these
state-issued guidelines.
President
elect Biden said that he pledged to administer 100 million doses of the COVID
19 vaccine in the first 100 days of his new administration.
Taking a
simplified tact going forward may be helpful. The heavy hand of state
government has not served its citizens well. Elderly citizens are at greater
peril and protecting them first is medically sound and administratively simple.
Health care workers involved in face-to-face patient care are likewise
immediately identifiable and a bona fide interest in keeping them at their
posts is self-evident. Emergency responders follow, and protecting individuals
involved in strategic industries, much as was the pattern in West Virginia, is
practical and sensible. From there, the vaccines should be available to the
general population. Slavish adherence to complicated delivery algorithms,
particularly when enforced by threat of great personal, legal and financial
liability to vaccine providers, will slow the process and leave patients
gratuitously at risk. While demand exceeds supply, wasting the vaccine is a
cardinal sin. If the end of the shelf life of the vaccine is imminent and no
recipient in the designated group is at hand, providing vaccination to any
individual is vastly to be preferred to wasting a single dose. The desert
traveler would never allow water from the canteen to be spilled into the sand.
Currently,
4,000 American citizens are dying every day of this pandemic. What makes this
even more tragic is that we now have in hand two vaccines of proven value in
preventing this plague from spreading among us with its ravaging illness, death
and crippling economic impact. When the flames are licking out the bedroom
window, the fire department is needed immediately. Likewise, as this pestilence
roars among us, the vaccine in the arm, like the water from the firefighter's
hose, is needed now.
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