Health officials worry nation not ready for COVID-19 vaccine
By LIZ SZABO
today
... An ongoing investigation by KHN and the AP has detailed how state and local public health departments across the U.S. have been starved for decades, leaving them underfunded and without adequate resources to confront the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation further found that federal coronavirus funds have been slow to reach public health departments, forcing some communities to cancel non-coronavirus vaccine clinics and other essential services ...
... most vaccine costs will be new.
Pima County, Arizona, for example, is already at least $30 million short of what health officials need to fight the pandemic, let alone plan for vaccines, said Dr. Francisco Garcia, deputy county administrator and chief medical officer ...
“We’re not going to have 300 million doses all at once,” said Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Health and Human Services Department, despite earlier government pledges to have many doses ready by the new year. “We believe we are maximizing our probability of success of having tens of millions of doses of vaccines by January 2021, which is our goal” ...
Given that vaccines are far more complex than personal protective equipment and other medical supplies — one vaccine candidate must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — Plescia said people should be prepared for shortages, delays and mix-ups ...
https://apnews.com/0a6a5ad94e6bfe8e57b01737347b8040
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