President-elect COVID-19 plan pushes public cooperation and more vaccination sites
First task may be overcoming confusion about vaccine supply and eligibility as Biden repeats warning that the pandemic is getting worse
This edition of the newsletter was written Friday but did not go out due to a technical error (I forgot to hit “send.”) I apologize for this delay. And please look for Monday’s MLK Day edition, which will focus on what each of us can do right now about COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday that the highly infectious strain of the novel coronavirus that has overtaken other strains in the United Kingdom likely will become dominant in the United States within the next three months.
The UK still has surging numbers of new cases. Much tighter restrictions on travelers were announced Friday.
President-Elect Joe Biden outlined his plans to tackle COVID-19. The main points were:
Mandating masks in all places where the president has the authority and urging governors and other officials to do the same.
Deploying FEMA to establish at least 100 community vaccination centers, following disaster response models
Updating eligibility guidelines so that those at highest risk, such as front-line healthcare workers, remain at the front of the line but doing so without turning so many others away
Improving communications and planning so that states know farther in advance what vaccine supplies they will receive
Recruiting retired healthcare workers and others who can staff vaccination centers, including National Guard troops that the federal government would fund
Creating mobile health units that can bring the vaccinations and other services to remote and other underserved communities
Biden also named former FDA Commissioner David Kessler as chief science officer for Operation Warp Speed, the vaccine effort started by the Trump administration. (I worked for Dr. Kessler when he was dean of medicine at UCSF. His skills and experience running large organizations and tackling complex public health challenges will be very useful in this emergency.)
In the meantime, people all over the country found vaccination appointments canceled or unavailable, just one part of the vaccine confusion resulting from the Trump administration’s announcement earlier this week that it was releasing vaccine doses that were being held back in reserve. The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration had no COVID vaccine reserve when HHS Secretary Azar said the reserve was being released.
The Ad Council plans to launch its COVID-19 vaccine campaign next Wednesday, January 21. It has raised more than $35 million for the effort. Previous ads to promote social distancing, masks and mental health were created early in the pandemic.
Facts to know: The U.S. COVID-19 outbreak has steadily risen, despite periods of control in some regions. Here is the data charted by STATNews:
The next issue of this newsletter will include a look ahead to the next few months and what each of us can do now to stay safe. Got a question? Please submit it as a comment or send me email.