COVID-19 : 
NEW YORK – Health centers across the United States have had to start canceling thousands of appointments to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine amid dose shortages, causing desperation and unanswered questions from officials in health.
The situation is particularly dire in Texas, which averages about 20,000 new cases a day, raising concerns about whether authorities will be able to slow the spread when they can’t get the vaccines they so desperately need. need to do so, The New said on Saturday. York Times.
Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, struggles with a similar problem when hospitals serving some of its poorest residents run out of vaccine, leading some public health experts to question why the doses fail. are not. they are available to vulnerable communities, the newspaper also notes.
He also points out that the sense of chaos in the cast, not only in Texas but in various states, reveals how local authorities are struggling to fill the void left by the shortage, until this week when Joe took over as President. Biden, for a comprehensive response at the federal level.
Health officials trying to find an answer are baffled by reports that millions of available doses are not being used.
As of Friday morning, nearly 39.9 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines had been distributed to state and local governments, but only about 19.1 million doses had been given to patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease control and prevention, the Times also points out.
“It has a lot to do with how we’re going to implement the vaccine and how we’re going to let science be the foundation for everything we do…” President Biden’s medical adviser said.
Remember that Pfizer and Moderna have agreed to supply this country with 100 million doses of the vaccine, and companies compete to make the vaccines, together releasing between 12 million and 18 million doses per week.
The newspaper reports similar appointment cancellations in other states, including Hawaii, where a Maui hospital canceled 5,000 first-dose appointments and put another 15,000 requests on hold.
The New York newspaper notes that it appears that problems with distributing already available doses are responsible for much of the acute shortage of vaccines that are affecting parts of the country and available to people over 65.
“I think this is really a continuation of the consequences of the lack of a coordinated federal response. Basically, cities and counties have been left alone to deal with this pandemic, ”Dr. Grant Colfax, head of the Department of Health, told the newspaper. San Francisco Public Health.
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