Coronavirus

Concern Over Limited Vaccine Supply

Dr. Walensky says she's hopeful that the vaccine supply will ramp up in the coming months, roughly by the end of March.

Concern Over Limited Vaccine Supply
Yuki Iwamura / AP
SMS

Some states are saying they're running out of vaccine.

The Biden administration is saying this is the biggest pressure point right now, that's according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. And she admits that the U.S. government does not have enough supply and right now they're working with manufacturers to make sure that they're ramping up the supply. 

But the problem goes beyond just how many doses are out there, it goes to distribution, coordinating with local governments and placing the vaccination centers in the right parts of the community. 

On top of that, Walensky says there's a shortage of data and they need that so they can make sure that these vaccines get out to the right people. 

"I would say one of the biggest problems right now is I can't tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I can't tell it to you I can't tell it to the governors and I can't tell it to the state health officials," said Walensky. "If they don't know how much vaccine they're getting, not just this week, but next week and the week after, they can't plan, they can't figure out how many sites to roll out, they can't figure out how many vaccinators they need. And they can't figure out how many appointments to make for the public."

Walensky is painting a pretty bleak picture of the challenge facing the Biden administration. But she says she's hopeful that the vaccine supply will ramp up in the coming months, roughly by the end of March. But a lot of people certainly anxious to get a vaccine and that timeline cannot come soon enough.