Coronavirus Update January 27, 2021 The Biden-Harris Administrations Pandemic Response In Their First Week in Office

Another 1,352 coronavirus cases have been reported in Washington, bringing the total number of diagnoses to 303,482, including 4,167 deaths up 19 since last reported, according to the state Department of Health. 17,354 people have been hospitalized in Washington due to the virus. Statewide we are at 81% hospital ICU inventory and a 10% positivity rate. 

We just broke another record today at 100 million cases worldwide and 2.16 million deaths with 25.5 million in the United States and 425,000 deaths, which surpasses the number of lives lost in WWII. The number of Americans killed by COVID-19 is more than half of the total death toll in the Civil War — approximately 620,000 — which was the deadliest war in American history.

President Biden was sworn into office exactly one week ago, so what has the Biden-Harris administration done to combat the pandemic thus far?

Use of the Defense Production Act to increase the vaccine supply.

Speeding up the rate of vaccination is currently our only path towards reopening the country, the Biden-Harris administration announced Tuesday, January 26, 2021, that it will be utilizing the Defense Production Act to increase vaccine supply by 16%. 

"First, after review of the current vaccine supply and manufacturing plants, I can announce that we will increase overall weekly vaccination distributions of states, tribes, and territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses," President Biden said Tuesday. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration announced they will be giving states a three-week notice on their allocation to give them more time to plan for distribution, another major bottleneck in the vaccination roll-out. 

Acquire low dead space syringes to get six doses out of Pfizer's vials.

If healthcare providers utilize a “low dead space” syringe it would allow vaccinations to be increased by 20% by extracting the 6th dose from every vial. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has begun giving healthcare providers packages that include both types of syringes. Early testing showed that three low dead space syringes in conjunction with three traditional syringes may yield the 6th dose. 

So why don’t we just use low dose syringes for every vaccination? Low dead space syringes are a niche product that does not currently have large-scale production lines in place. Even with major syringe manufacturers increasing their capacity by over a billion they can not currently produce enough of these specialty syringes to administer every vaccination dose.

A plan to purchase an additional 200 million doses from Moderna and Pfizer this year.

Utilizing options built into current vaccination contracts, The Biden-Harris administration has negotiated an additional 200 million does from Moderna and Pfizer set to be delivered throughout the summer. This purchase by the Biden-Harris administration will increase total available doses to 600 million, an approximate 50% increase, enough to fully vaccinate 300 million people. There are an estimated 260 million people in the United States who are currently eligible for vaccination.

Use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] to deploy more personnel and support state vaccination sites.

The Biden-Harris administration announced on January 25, 2021, that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will be using federal funding to accelerate the states’ vaccination efforts by identifying and filling resource gaps as well as establishing new community vaccination centers. To do this they’ve stabbed a new interagency Vaccination Task Force in FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center.

FEMA will also provide financial reimbursement to states for their use of the National Guard to respond to COVID-19 until September 30, 2021, as well as reimburse for eligible emergency work projects such as facilities or equipment to administer and store the vaccine, PPE for personnel, overtime pay, training, and additional staffing. They will also be reimbursing states for costs associated with reopening schools, childcare facilities, non-congregate shelters, domestic violence shelters, and transit systems. 

Create 100 community vaccination clinics to accelerate immunizations among Americans, including mobile clinics to reach remote areas for the administration's health equity goals.

Experts say mega vaccination clinics, community clinics, and mobile clinics are critical for reaching herd immunity through vaccination. The Biden-Harris administration announced, in a 200-page national pandemic strategy, they will be providing funding and support to accelerate immunizations among Americans in demographics hit hardest by the pandemic as well as hard to reach rural communities. Up to 100 vaccinations, sites run by FEMA or in partnership with local governments and community groups could begin offering the Coronavirus vaccine as soon as next month. 

Partner with community health centers to reach hard-hit communities.

The Biden-Harris administration has announced they are establishing a Health Equity Taskforce to provide recommendations for allocating resources and funding to communities with equities in the COVID-19 outcomes. This taskforce will increase equity data collection to increase access to PPE, testing, therapies, and vaccines to underserved communities and those in high-risk settings. 

Supply more vaccines directly to pharmacies.

Across the country, more than 40,000 pharmacies are currently enrolled to participate in the vaccination roll-out. The Biden-Harris administration is preparing to send vaccines directly to pharmacies enrolled as early as February as part of the national vaccination strategy. Supplying directly to pharmacies is in part due to their pledge to reach demographics hit hard by the pandemic and rural areas as well as a way to decrease vaccine hesitation due to trust and familiarity Americans have with their local pharmacies. Previous to this announcement states were in charge of allowing vaccinations to retail pharmacy chains. 

On January 18, 2021, Governor Jay Inslee announced a private-public partnership, The Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center (WSVCCC), for vaccination rollout that included Washington headquartered chain Costco.