“We strongly encourage you to build upon this existing system for COVID-19 vaccination and not reinvent vaccine distribution and information management systems,” they wrote, asking if federal officials are creating a new system. CDC’s existing infrastructure is capable of expanding, as it did during the H1N1 pandemic when it distributed 138 million doses of vaccine, the public health workers pointed out. The CDC already distributes about 80 million doses of vaccines through 40,000 health care providers each year. In its letter, the association pressed Operation Warp Speed not to reinvent the wheel, given CDC’s record of providing childhood vaccines across the country. In general, former CDC officials say the agency's role during the COVID-19 crisis has been diminished compared to previous outbreaks. “I hope they will put something out in writing to really get this clarified on the record so we can keep going forward.”īut some experts remain worried that the CDC, the agency that typically leads both yearly childhood and adult vaccination efforts, could be sidelined. But this is a great step forward,” Hannan said. “She got a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Unanswered questionsĬDC and Operation Warp Speed officials have been circumspect about the details of distribution for months. The CDC did not respond to multiple requests for more details. The CDC description indicated that Philadelphia, Pa., would also be involved but the city's public health department said it had no knowledge of those plans. "The Department of Health will meet with representatives from the CDC to establish the details, however, an agenda for that meeting has not been created at this time." "Florida supports this initiative and is one of four states that will be working with the CDC on this project," a spokesman said in a statement. “California has been selected for a joint planning mission and will work with a multiagency federal team, including staff from the CDC and the Department of Defense, to plan and prepare for COVID-19 vaccination response in California,” the state health department said in a statement. Nothing else has been done at this point,” Julie Bartkey, a Minnesota Department of Health spokesperson, said in an email. Thus far, we have been asked to THINK about how a vaccine distribution plan might look. “We are not in a position to talk about this, since it’s essentially in very, very early stages. Normal life can’t begin to resume in the United States until a large proportion of residents are immune. Distributing any authorized vaccines effectively will be crucial to stemming the coronavirus pandemic. The start of vaccine distribution plans come amid calls by public health experts for a national strategy. The plan, which is not yet public, was confirmed by four state health departments.įederal officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pentagon and the administration's Operation Warp Speed initiative plan to conduct site visits and develop “model approaches” for other states based on what they learn, according to a CDC description of the project shared exclusively with CQ Roll Call. The states involved include California, Florida, North Dakota and Minnesota. After months of remaining vague about its plans to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, the Trump administration is quietly piloting distribution working groups, CQ Roll Call has learned.
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