Several states are no longer ordering their full allocation of vaccine doses
Several states are no longer ordering their full allocation of vaccine doses from the federal government, CNN has learned, as demand drops in multiple spots across the US.
According to an administration official, there are a handful of states that are only ordering a percentage of what has been set aside for them, redirecting many of those doses back to a federal pool that was created in anticipation of this drop in demand.
The White House structured that federal pool so those unordered doses could then go to states like Maryland or Massachusetts that are still ordering their full allotment where demand has not dropped. Officials are working to balance a new national landscape where some states are seeing a drop in demand while others have remained steady.
Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are tracking all of this closely on its analytical platform, and allocations are still being determined by a state’s population. If a state doesn’t order its full allocation one week, it will not have an effect on their allocation the next week.
Biden’s coronavirus advisers told governors during a call last week that they planned to redistribute vaccine doses if states don’t order all of the vaccine allocated to them each week, CNN previously reported.
States will still get allocations based on their population, but the change means if a certain state does not order all of the doses available to them, the White House will redistribute them and likely give them to a state that has higher demand than their allocation.
After focusing for months on ramping up supply and distribution of the vaccine, the Biden administration has a new challenge: convincing Americans who have not gotten vaccinated to do so and making it more convenient for them to get their shot. The Biden administration has poured funds into educating the public about the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines in an attempt to dispel any fears or hesitation about getting the shot.
An overwhelming majority of seniors are now vaccinated against the virus, so the Biden administration is now turning its focus to Americans under 50. The administration has been looking for ways to incentivize businesses to encourage vaccination and also trying to ensure ease of access with appointment-free vaccination at local pharmacies.
In recent weeks, several states have not ordered their full allocation of vaccines due to a drop in demand.
The President has set a goal of administering at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 70% of the US adult population and having 160 million US adults fully vaccinated by July 4.
More than 260 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 114 million Americans are fully vaccinated, the CDC says.
This story has been updated with additional information.
