Supply Chain

The Donald Trump administration left the vaccine rollout, for the most part, to state and local governments. So right now, “it’s literally the Wild West,” said Anna Nagurney, professor of operations management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “You need better coordination, better communication and emphasizing operational efficiency,” Nagurney said. “And we know how to do that.” By “we,” she meant American companies.

The spoilage of nearly 2,000 COVID-19 vaccines at the VA Medical Center in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood sparked a reaction from people in the city. Anna Nagurney, a professor of operations management at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is an expert in supply chains, including vaccine rollouts. She says the loss of 1,900 vaccine doses should never have happened. "I think it's actually unforgivable," she said. "We cannot afford to be wasting our vaccines.

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As states try to pick up the pace in administering coronavirus vaccines, they’re asking a wide range of nontraditional workers to step in. And that means people rolling up to get their shot might find a National Guard member, a dentist, or a veterinarian on the other side of the needle. As of Wednesday, the U.S. has distributed more than 36 million vaccine doses, but administered only about 16.5 million. There’s a host of reasons for that imbalance, including inadequate planning, but some health officials are grappling with a shortage of people able to give the shot. After all, health care workers are also busy managing the COVID-19 pandemic itself.

The travel industry should be ready to start feeling good. Although there have been 400,000 deaths and 24 million cases in the United States alone, COVID-19 vaccine rollout has begun. But ‘last-mile’ problems of distribution and sluggish city and state response has slowed vaccination programs across the country. The US Travel Association (USTA) calls the rollout “a long-awaited light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, bringing to life the number one assurance travelers need—a vaccine.”

Top public health officials and long-term care stakeholders have both praised West Virginia for how quickly it’s been able to distribute and administer COVID-19 vaccines to long-term care facilities. Last week, the state announced that it’s now administering doses to more seniors after finishing initial vaccine rounds at all of its nursing homes. Its success sent experts digging to see just how the state was able to master its long-term care vaccination program, while so many others are struggling. “The first important point is that West Virginia opted out of a federal partnership program that relies on the giant CVS and Walgreens pharmacy chains to deliver vaccines to nursing homes.

The urgency of vaccinating nursing home residents is evident in the numbers. The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 136,000 residents and employees of long-term care facilities in the U.S. alone, accounting for nearly 40% of all U.S. deaths linked to the disease. Echoing that urgency, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declared in mid-December, “We can have every nursing home patient vaccinated in the United States by Christmas.” Yet, by Christmas, most states had barely begun. Other states were still far behind when West Virginia became the first state to finish round one of the two-dose vaccine series in nursing homes on Dec. 30.

The urgency of vaccinating nursing home residents is evident in the numbers. The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 136,000 residents and employees of long-term care facilities in the U.S. alone, accounting for nearly 40% of all U.S. deaths linked to the disease. Echoing that urgency, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declared in mid-December, “We can have every nursing home patient vaccinated in the United States by Christmas.” Yet, by Christmas, most states had barely begun. Other states were still far behind when West Virginia became the first state to finish round one of the two-dose vaccine series in nursing homes on Dec. 30.

CVS and Walgreens have come under fire from local officials for the slow rollout of their vaccinations program to nursing homes. As of January 14, around a quarter of the 4.7 million doses allocated to the companies had been administered CNN reported. TJ Crawford, a spokesperson for CVS, told Insider that the process is going entirely to plan. Both companies told CNN they are on track to have the first round of the two-phase vaccine completed by January 25. But health officials in some states have said that the process has been frustratingly slow.

The effort to get Americans vaccinated has been "extremely poor" and hampered by avoidable setbacks, experts have told Newsweek. However, some states, like West Virginia and North Dakota, have emerged as relative outliers as the country struggles to hit targets. Thanks in part to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's COVID vaccine and treatment funding program, vaccines have been developed in record time, and distribution has gone relatively well, according to academics. But the country has tripped up at arguably the most important hurdle: administering the shots that will protect people from COVID.