Consider This from NPR - Why U.S. Vaccinations Started Slow And What We Know About The New Coronavirus Variant

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

Initially, U.S. officials predicted that as many as 20 million Americans would be fully vaccinated before the end of 2020. And while that many vaccine doses were distributed, only a fraction of them have been administered. The federal government has given states control over distribution plans which has led to different systems with differing levels of success. In one Florida county, Julie Glenn of member station WGCU reports on the haphazard vaccine rollout that has led elderly residents to camp out in tents to get their first shot.As vaccinations lag behind schedule, a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus is spreading in many countries, including the U.S. The new variant isn't thought to be more deadly, and scientists believe the vaccines currently being administered will work against it. Additional good news is that masks and social distancing will still slow the spread of the new variant.Additional reporting this episode from NPR's Allison Aubrey, who's reported on the slow start to vaccinations, and from NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff, who's reported on the new coronavirus variant. Reporting on the vaccine rollout at the state level came from Will Stone in Seattle, Nashville Public Radio's Blake Farmer, and WBUR's Martha Bebinger.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The number was supposed to be 20 million. 20 million Americans vaccinated by the end of 2020. We anticipate having about 40 million doses, so enough to cover somewhere between 15 and 20 million individuals. That's Amanda Cohn of the CDC. You might remember her prediction from an episode from early last month. But today, according to the CDC, only around 5 million people have

actually been vaccinated. There's numerous factors. And here's what I have confidence in. Every day, everybody gets better. U.S. Army General Gus Perna, one of the leaders of Operation Warp Speed, tried to explain the slow start. There's two holidays. There's been three major snowstorms. There is everybody working through, you know, how to do the notification, how to make sure we're administering it the right way. This is a huge puzzle. Different states and counties are trying out different systems for distribution with different levels of success. In some places, health workers have reported throwing away vaccine doses that went bad before they could be given to eligible people. Other states are giving out doses to anyone

if the doses they have in stock are close to spoiling. In Tennessee, for instance, some health departments keep waiting lists of people who could be on site in 30 minutes. The other issue is that the simple process of giving the shot takes longer than expected. There are intake questions before and a 15-minute period of monitoring after to make sure you don't feel serious side effects. That's caused much more of a delay than I would have anticipated. Dr. Asif Merchant, a nursing home medical director near Boston, says it took half an hour to get his vaccine,

and there just aren't enough health care workers to move things faster. I think when it comes to general public, that is going to be an even bigger problem. We really need all hands on deck here. Consider this. Vaccine distribution is behind schedule, and a new coronavirus variant, one that's more contagious, threatens to spread infections faster than before. From NPR, I'm Adi Cornish. It's Tuesday, January 5th. This message comes from NPR sponsor, BetterHelp, a truly affordable online counseling service.

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It's Consider This from NPR. So let's talk about this variant. It was caused by a mutation of the coronavirus. And we should say all viruses mutate. It's what happens when a virus grows by making copies of itself. It's just like copying a manuscript. Sometimes there's typos. That's Betty Steinberg, a virologist at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research on Long Island. The virus just makes random mistakes when it gets copied. Those random mistakes are mutations, and the majority of them are harmless. But in rare instances, mutations can help a virus, and it looks like that's what's happened. New analysis has confirmed that the new variant of coronavirus has a much quicker transmission rate than the original strain. The variant was first detected in the UK

in December and is now the dominant form of the virus in London. The surge in cases, particularly in London and the southeast, has left NHS emergency staff at battle stations, according to medical leaders, with health workers exhausted and struggling to cope. The variant isn't thought to be more deadly, but scientists estimate it's about 50% more contagious. One theory for why is that there's some evidence the variant generates more viral particles in your mouth and nose. When you expel virus, when you talk or breathe, you're going to get more virus out than somebody who doesn't have this variant,

simply because you have more virus in you to begin with. Stephen Goldstein at the University of Utah told NPR, the good news is that the variant can be slowed down in the same ways, with masks and social distancing. And scientists believe vaccines already developed will still work. But it requires a greater level of rigor in the adherence to those things. A more rigorous approach is exactly what we saw in the UK this week. It's been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a strict new lockdown. Until mid-February, all schools will be remote, all restaurants closed to indoor customers,

and people are only supposed to leave home for essentials, for emergencies, or for work they can't do from home. It's clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out. In England, we must therefore go into a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home. The variant has already been detected in dozens of other countries, and at least four states here in the U.S. California, Colorado, New York, and Florida. The variant is one big reason why public health experts want to see vaccination move quickly.

But the system for distributing vaccine doses is completely decentralized, with individual states and even individual counties deciding how to do it. This next story is about how that plays out in real time, in this case for the elderly residents of one county in Florida. It comes from Julie Glenn of member station WGCU in Fort Myers. Linda Behan is a 75-year-old woman with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. So when she heard from friends they were going to get a COVID vaccine shot, she joined their caravan. No carpool for them. We're just all finished, you know, because we're old and we're vulnerable.

Most of the information she's gotten has come from friends, and she'd heard the lines were long. Oh yeah, we brought chairs, we brought food. I mean, we knew it was going to be a wait. It was a seven-hour wait for Linda, who showed up two hours before vaccinations were scheduled to begin. She was number 572 in line. Lee County is one of 67 counties in Florida, each with its own system for vaccinating as many people as possible, in spite of the Florida Department of Health having offices in each county. In Lee County, there are no reservations, just first come, first serve. So elderly people lined up for hours, some camping out overnight, which led to a public outcry putting County Manager Roger Desjarlais

on defense. You know, I got a lot of hate mail in the last couple days. Yeah, I don't think I've ever been called incompetent so many times and, you many times in a string of emails ever in my career. While the program is administered by the Florida Department of Health, DOH officials in Lee County decided late last week to tap the county for additional logistical support. Desjarlais says he first got involved Saturday. That's when we really got to work in earnest on standing this thing up. So now what? With no appointment system in place, seniors started planning where to pitch their tents. We've told people don't camp out, don't stand in line, but you know we're also not going to arrest people for doing it. I mean it's their choice. They can do that if they so choose. Desjarlais says internet-based appointment systems have too many technical issues.

Every county that's done it so far, their website crashes. Neighboring Collier and Charlotte counties have not reported problems with their reservation systems. Linda Behan says she feels like requiring online reservations could put some at a disadvantage. It's more fair to do it this way because you don't have to have a computer or whatever, but people who don't have one could go to the library and whatever. But, you know, you didn't have to be a person that had enough money to have a computer to go there. To have reservations or just an open call to seniors to show up for a shot is one of many things that's been left up to individual counties,

and little additional information seems to be flowing from the state. Our information on the supply chain is so limited I can't even, it's hard to describe and we are absolutely in the dark. The supply chain begins at the federal level which distributes the vaccine to states. The Florida Department of Health drafted its COVID vaccination plan back in October. it called for first responders and health care workers to receive their inoculation, along with long-term care residents and employees. But a December 23rd executive order by Governor Ron DeSantis added all people 65 and older to that first group, throwing a last-minute curveball to counties operating on the original priority list. After the long lines in

the first week of its vaccine rollout, Desjardins says the county is working on a reservation system to launch possibly sometime next week. And after seven hours in line for her first shot, Linda Behan says that she hopes the lines won't be so long for her follow-up shot in 28 days. Julie Glenn with NPR member station WGCU in Fort Myers. A final note here about that second vaccine dose Linda Behan is waiting for. There's a growing debate in the public health world about whether people like her actually need a second dose. The leading coronavirus vaccines require two shots, but some countries, like the UK, are moving ahead with plans to administer just the first one. The argument for why is that the first shot may provide enough short-term protection on its own.

No second shot means more doses into more arms more quickly. So we know from the trials, from the phase three trials of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, that we saw around a 90% efficacy after one dose and before the second dose. Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina says that efficacy lasted as long as a month. But that's where the data ends, because after that, people got their second dose. Which is why he and some other public health experts are calling for study of how effective

and for how long only the first dose could be. And so then the question becomes, how much efficacy do you lose after just a single dose? And how does that compare to what the effect of not giving twice as many people a vaccine? Those questions haven't been studied. Dr. Anthony Fauci has spoken out in opposition to this UK-style dosing plan for the U.S.

And for right now, the FDA says stick with the plan. Two doses is best. Now, we don't want to do this without data or evidence. So we want to run the trials and we want to start the trials today. And there are efficient ways to do it. But the point is, we could potentially have a much greater impact on saving lives and reducing spread of this virus in the near term. Harvard's Michael Mina spoke to Here and Now, a production of NPR and member station WBWAR in Boston. You're listening to Consider This from NPR, and I'm Adi Cornish.