HipKat Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 The systems to manufacture, distribute, and track vaccine doses set up by the Trump administration are even more broken than Biden’s COVID team feared. Twelve minutes before noon on Wednesday, President Joe Biden was sworn into office as the nation’s 46th president. Seven hours later, the United States reported more than 4,409 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to data collected by the COVID-19 Tracking Project. The Biden administration came into power with purpose and an extensive agenda to combat the coronavirus pandemic, but purpose and planning only gets you so far—particularly when the president’s team is only just now getting a clear picture of how badly the previous administration had managed the crisis. “What we’re inheriting from the Trump administration is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 czar, said in a call with reporters Wednesday. “We don't have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.” “I think we have to level-set expectations,” added Tom Frieden, the former director for the Centers for Disease Control in the Obama administration. “There are lots of things that an incoming administration can do on Day One, including speaking honestly about the pandemic.” The new administration is already behind, in part because the Trump administration was unprecedentedly hostile during the transition. The question now, however, is how Biden can get a handle on a raging pandemic when his team is already so far behind. The task at hand is enormous. More than 400,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. Every state, territory and the District of Columbia is in a state of emergency. The number of people infected with the virus who are now hospitalized is more than double the number reached during the spring and summer peaks. At least we won’t have a president that’s actively fighting those rules on national television. — official working with Biden COVID team It’s not just the spread of the virus that the Biden team needs to tackle. Officials will also have to confront the disinformation and misinformation about the virus that has permeated all four corners of the country—where people still believe the virus is a hoax and that public health guidelines are too great of an imposition on their personal freedom to follow. But it’s unclear what power of persuasion the Biden administration will hold and if it will be enough to convince people to take the virus more seriously. “At least we won’t have a president that’s actively fighting those rules on national television,” one official working with the new Biden COVID-19 team said. More urgently, Biden and his team will have to handle the growing frustration among states over the lack of a comprehensive vaccine-distribution program that enables them to inoculate their residents quickly. They will have to find a way to get states more vaccines needed to meet Americans’ growing demand for the shot. Biden’s COVID-19 team says the president will use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ensure that health-care facilities have what they need for personal protective equipment and to continue to scale testing across the country. Officials say Biden will also use the act and “other legal authorities” for “raw materials to ensure that bottlenecks do not slow down [vaccine] production,” Zients said, specifically mentioned the production of syringes as critical to success. It’s still unclear exactly when the president will invoke the DPA, and if the administration will lean on the legal authority for the production of supplies other than vaccine syringes. “Making vaccines is not simple, and you can't cut any corners,” Frieden said. “We'll see if there's anything more that can be done.” Biden enters office as states across the country are grappling with massive vaccine shortages. Hospitals and pharmacies have begun to run out, forcing them to cancel first and second dose appointments. Officials in states such as California, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, and Arizona this week called on the federal government to not only help facilitate the shipment of additional vaccines but to clearly communicate how many doses they should expect to receive in the coming days. They’ve received no answers, according to six state health officials, all of whom requested to remain anonymous to speak more freely about the issue. Those officials said the Biden team has for weeks reached out to states to assuage their concerns about the lack of a cohesive and functioning vaccination distribution system. The Biden message to frustrated governors was simple: help is on the way. But as White House officials begin to strategize on how best to remedy the situation they are finding that the foundation on which the Trump administration built its vaccine distribution program is more flawed than previously understood, according to two individuals involved with vaccine planning. From the accounting to the way vaccines are allocated and scheduled for delivery—the system doesn’t allow for the quick movement of vaccines off the manufacturing line to state vaccine distribution points, those officials said. The former Trump administration built out the vaccine distribution process within the confines of Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership to fast-track a novel COVID-19 vaccine. In the first few months of its existence, Operation Warp Speed focused on development—creating the country’s first effective mRNA vaccine and supporting companies’ clinical trials. The distribution strategizing came later. Developed by the military, the plan was to have the federal government, specifically the military officials within Operation Warp Speed, lead the logistics part of the vaccine delivery. The military would not actually touch the vaccine but would instead coordinate the effort from the Pentagon. Part of that coordination required states using the Pentagon’s Tiberius system—a platform that allows local officials to input their orders and see when they will be receiving their next doses. States only had a few weeks to try out the Tiberius platform before the vaccine rollout began in December, officials said, and they were provided false projections on how many doses they would be receiving once the Pfizer vaccine became available. Two state health officials who spoke to The Daily Beast said they believe the Tiberius system is still not accurately updating and is miscounting either how many doses the companies have manufactured or how many have been allocated by the federal government. Those officials said they have yet to receive responses from federal officials about whether their most recent orders for Pfizer and Moderna jabs have been filled. Part of the confusion among states is how the newest Trump administration federal guidelines on vaccine distribution have impacted the manufacturing process. The Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Centers for Disease Control, recently released a new set of recommendations that allow states to hand out the vaccine more freely—to widen the population of who can receive the shot in the first wave. The federal government also said it would start to release doses it had originally held in reserve for second-shot dosing. The recommendations almost worked too well—they ramped up demand significantly. Now, states say they don’t have enough doses. What we’re inheriting from the Trump administration is so much worse than we could have imagined. We don't have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations. — Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s COVID czar “There were more than 12 million hits to a map of providers we posted yesterday so it is clear that many Pennsylvanians are eager to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. “Unfortunately, we do not have enough vaccine for everyone who wants it right now.” The policy centerpiece of Biden’s attempt to turn the tide on the pandemic—and the devastating economic consequences it has also wrought—is a $1.9 trillion relief package he rolled out a week ago. It calls not only for expanded unemployment help, small business aid, and $1,400 direct checks, but $350 billion in relief aid to state and local governments to boost testing and vaccine rollout, and $20 billion and $50 billion for separate vaccine and testing initiatives, respectively. But that proposal faces an uncertain environment on Capitol Hill—particularly the Senate, where Democrats now hold the tie-breaking vote and where an impeachment trial of Trump is expected to eat up at least a week of the upcoming legislative calendar. The president’s allies fear that the trial, combined with Biden’s urgent push to confirm members of the cabinet who will help enact his efforts to control the virus, could push passage of his trillion-dollar “rescue plan“ into late spring. Democratic senators, who largely agree with Biden’s assessment that their $900 billion December relief bill was merely a “down payment” for a more expansive follow-up, are anxious to see the Senate leap into action at a pivotal moment in the country’s struggle to control the virus. “It’s the top priority,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). “My gut tells me we will do all we can to find a bipartisan accord on it. There are many pieces of the proposed package I think that will generate significant Republican support.” Biden’s transition has actively reached out to lawmakers in both parties to sell them on their plan; Kaine told The Daily Beast that the process will “really accelerate” now that Biden has been sworn in. With GOP support a must to reach the 60-vote threshold—otherwise, the legislation will be stripped down only to issues relating to government spending and revenues—the administration is making a point of courting Republicans inclined to support such a proposal. One of them, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), said as she left the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday that she had already gotten the Biden team’s pitch and a chance to directly ask them questions. “I got a pretty good walkthrough of their COVID proposal yesterday,” Murkowski told The Daily Beast. “It's going to require, I think, a fair amount of debate and consideration. But he's made it clear that this is his initial priority. I don't disagree with that. We've got an economy that's really been hurt, we've got a vaccine that needs to get distributed—we’ve got a lot of work to do.” There’s space for a deal. — Sen. Lindsey Graham A key Democratic vote, centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), told reporters on Wednesday that a bipartisan group of senators—the same cohort that pushed the last round of COVID relief out of a stalemate last year—is slated to meet with White House officials this weekend to talk about the economic side of their plan. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters he hoped that group could produce a counter-proposal, rejecting some parts of Biden’s plan—such as its raising of the federal minimum wage—out of hand. “There’s space for a deal,” he said. The willingness of senior Republicans to even contemplate a deal puts wind at Biden’s back—and justifies the prayer, invoked in his inaugural address, that a nation united in common purpose may be able to turn the tide against the virus. “We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation,” Biden said. “And I promise you this, as the Bible says: ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ We will get through this together. Together.” Quote “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Damn Hip. The Daily Beast, huh? LOL. You are the king of the shit source. Pure propaganda. Come on, man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipKat Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 3 hours ago, Thebowflexbody said: Damn Hip. The Daily Beast, huh? LOL. You are the king of the shit source. Pure propaganda. Come on, man. Hey fucktard, when it's an opinion piece, feel free to say something about the source. If it's a news item and it's false, say something about the source but when it's all over the Internet reported by multiple news sources and it's proven to be factual, but you're too fucking lazy to go find out for yourself, then that just makes you a dick. 1 Quote “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 10 minutes ago, HipKat said: Hey fucktard, when it's an opinion piece, feel free to say something about the source. If it's a news item and it's false, say something about the source but when it's all over the Internet reported by multiple news sources and it's proven to be factual, but you're too fucking lazy to go find out for yourself, then that just makes you a dick. Come on. This is going to go on for months and it will be 'all Trump's fault'. How about you find something positive about the Biden administration and present that factually? You can look up my previous posts and use them as templates for logically defending your position. Sadly, you cannot present anything positive regarding your world view nor can you find a competent executive action by the new Biden administration. You can only criticize. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipKat Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 1 minute ago, FanBack said: Come on. This is going to go on for months and it will be 'all Trump's fault'. How about you find something positive about the Biden administration and present that factually? You can look up my previous posts and use them as templates for logically defending your position. Sadly, you cannot present anything positive regarding your world view nor can you find a competent executive action by the new Biden administration. You can only criticize. I presented something positive yesterday on here, regarding his plan to attack the covid pandemic. I would say it will be easy to find because Bowman shot it down but then Bowman's a fucking dumbass that shoots down everything. If I said happy birthday bowman, he would have something negative to say about it because he's a bigger troll than you are. Actually scratch that he might not be a bigger troll than you are he's just not as polished at it as you are 1 Quote “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 1 hour ago, HipKat said: Hey fucktard, when it's an opinion piece, feel free to say something about the source. If it's a news item and it's false, say something about the source but when it's all over the Internet reported by multiple news sources and it's proven to be factual, but you're too fucking lazy to go find out for yourself, then that just makes you a dick. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 25 minutes ago, Woody said: Whoa. Doubled from yesterday. When is Senile Joe going to crush this thing??? Please keep posting the Biden death toll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f8ta1ity54 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 2 hours ago, HipKat said: Hey fucktard, when it's an opinion piece, feel free to say something about the source. If it's a news item and it's false, say something about the source but when it's all over the Internet reported by multiple news sources and it's proven to be factual, but you're too fucking lazy to go find out for yourself, then that just makes you a dick. Its not like it read it. lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 21 minutes ago, f8ta1ity54 said: Its not like it read it. lol it read it? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f8ta1ity54 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Just now, Thebowflexbody said: it read it? LOL Yea, it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Just now, f8ta1ity54 said: Yea, it. LOL. Good answer, good answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipKat Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 2 hours ago, Thebowflexbody said: Whoa. Doubled from yesterday. When is Senile Joe going to crush this thing??? Please keep posting the Biden death toll. maybe you should put your fucking phone away and listen to him and you'll know when he's going to crush this since he's been talking about it for the last hour. But God forbid you not post on here every waking moment Quote “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 7 minutes ago, HipKat said: maybe you should put your fucking phone away and listen to him and you'll know when he's going to crush this since he's been talking about it for the last hour. But God forbid you not post on here every waking moment LOL. I'm going to kick back and watch old Senile Joe solve the vaccine situation in a matter of days. It's nothing but bullshit talk. He will continue to pretty much carry out the current plan. Don't need to hear his critiques and 20/20 hindsight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 10 minutes ago, HipKat said: maybe you should put your fucking phone away and listen to him and you'll know when he's going to crush this since he's been talking about it for the last hour. But God forbid you not post on here every waking moment Don't worry yourself about when and how often I post. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc856 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 3 hours ago, f8ta1ity54 said: Yea, it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f8ta1ity54 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 16 minutes ago, jc856 said: It was obviously a typo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f8ta1ity54 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 If the Trump administration would like to refute these claims, they should release the plan they had in place and we can see what was really going on. I guess that doesn't cross magat's mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc856 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 3 minutes ago, f8ta1ity54 said: It was obviously a typo. I thought that at first, then you seemed to acknowledge it. My sincerest apologies sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIBills Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 1 minute ago, jc856 said: I thought that at first, then you seemed to acknowledge it. My sincerest apologies sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc856 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Just now, LIBills said: That’s fucking weird! My wife and I were talking about cousin it yesterday! It was at 6:27 pm. UH OH, I better find out what this means! HEY TWD!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIBills Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 23 minutes ago, jc856 said: That’s fucking weird! My wife and I were talking about cousin it yesterday! It was at 6:27 pm. UH OH, I better find out what this means! HEY TWD!!!! That's for only you and your wife to find out. TMI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebowflexbody Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Thank god the Biden administration fast tracked the vaccine. What? It was the Trump administration??? Oh that's right, it was Biden and everyone on the left that said it could never be done. Hope they're enjoying the egg on their faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIBills Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 17 minutes ago, Thebowflexbody said: Thank god the Biden administration fast tracked the vaccine. What? It was the Trump administration??? Oh that's right, it was Biden and everyone on the left that said it could never be done. Hope they're enjoying the egg on their faces. That's ok, they will say it's scrambled eggs. No harm, no foul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipKat Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 2 hours ago, f8ta1ity54 said: If the Trump administration would like to refute these claims, they should release the plan they had in place and we can see what was really going on. I guess that doesn't cross magat's mind. They will when they release the Health Care plan, the infrastructure plan, the border wall plan, the jobs plan and every other plan that never happened Quote “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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