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Saturday 10 OctOber 2020

Official says vaccine expected in January, countering Trump

By MARTHA MENDOZA AND duced in Congress this
JULIET LINDERMAN year, only a handful seek to
Associated Press resolve supply chain issues;
A Trump administration offi- none of those has reached
cial leading the response to the president.
the coronavirus pandemic "We need to claw back
says the U.S. can expect our medical supply chain
delivery of a vaccine start- back to the U.S.," said Sen.
ing in January 2021, de- Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.,
spite statements from the who has sponsored bills to
president that inoculations bolster the U.S. pharma-
could begin this month. ceutical manufacturing
And a growing, bipartisan base.
chorus of lawmakers, ex- Roughly nine months into
perts and public health of- the pandemic, health care
ficials says the country is ill workers and even the Gov-
prepared for a projected ernment Accountability
winter surge of COVID-19. Office report there still isn't
Dr. Robert Kadlec said in enough protective equip-
an email Friday that the ment for frontline workers
administration "is acceler- or adequate coordination
ating production of safe from the federal govern-
and effective vaccines ... ment. And although there
to ensure delivery starting are emergency prepared-
January 2021." Kadlec is ness and response plans in
the Department of Health place, implementation has
and Human Services' assis- been inconsistent.
tant secretary of prepared- "We went into this pan-
ness and response. demic unprepared, and
President Donald Trump we remain so months later,"
has said at rallies, debates said Boris Lushniak, former
and press conferences acting surgeon general in
that a vaccine could ar- the Obama administration.
rive within weeks. "We think In this March 3, 2020 file photo, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness "It is time to reevaluate the
we can start sometime in and Response Dr. Robert Kadlec testifies before a Senate Education, Labor and Pensions Commit- complete medical supply
October," Trump said at a tee hearing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill in Washington. chain in the U.S. The fed-
White House press briefing Associated Press eral government needs to
last month. take on the leadership role
Kadlec wasn't the first Kadlec was responding to Experts say those shortages al coordinated strategy here."
health official to counter a series of questions from could now extend to the would help ensure that Across the country, public
the president's optimistic The Associated Press and syringes, needles and glass states, hospitals, physician health leaders are warning
timeline. Health and Hu- FRONTLINE about the ad- vials that are vital to a fu- offices and other facilities about the coming months.
man Services Secretary ministration's response to ture nationwide vaccina- have a single, centralized "A cohesive national plan
Alex Azar said Thursday the pandemic and, in par- tion program. authority to work through for equitably distributing
that there could be 100 ticular, about shortages of Kadlec agrees that sup- to acquire essential person- PPE has still not been pro-
million vaccine doses avail- critical medical supplies. ply chain disruptions led to al protective equipment," posed, let alone imple-
able by the end of the ___ shortages. He said the ad- American Medical Associa- mented," said Harvard
year "pending FDA autho- EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is ministration needs more, tion President Dr. Susan Bai- Medical School professor
rizations." And Dr. Moncef part of an ongoing investi- consistent, flexible fund- ley told the AP and FRONT- Dr. Andrew T. Chan, who
Slaoui, who is leading the gation by The Associated ing from Congress to shore LINE on Thursday. "The burn found Black, Hispanic and
government's vaccine ef- Press, the PBS series FRONT- up the Strategic National rate of personal protec- Asian health care workers
fort, told Marketwatch on LINE and the Global Report- Stockpile of medical sup- tive equipment and medi- had the highest risk of con-
Friday that researchers ing Centre that examines plies and drugs and ex- cal supplies has been far tracting COVID-19. "Thus,
could know "by late Oc- the deadly consequences pand domestic manufac- greater than anything that we will continue to fly by
tober, or November, or in of the fragmented world- turing. we have experienced and the seat of our pants with
December" whether one wide medical supply chain "There seems to be universal for a far longer time, and our fingers crossed for the
of the vaccines in develop- and includes the film Amer- consensus from both sides the need for PPE and test- foreseeable future."
ment is effective, but that it ica's Medical Supply Crisis. of the aisle in Congress, ing supplies will continue for Michael Lu, dean of Univer-
would then take weeks to ___ from the health care sector the foreseeable future." sity of California, Berkeley's
get emergency authoriza- The AP and FRONTLINE re- and from the manufactur- The collapse of the medi- school of public health,

tion to administer it. ported earlier this week ing base, that it is critical cal supply chain wasn't said one important part
When asked about the dis- that a breakdown in the to move from a just-in-time unexpected: For decades, of the solution lies in a bi-
parity, the White House was supply chain for critical manufacturing model to a politicians and corporate partisan bill fast tracked in
not specific on a date but medical equipment includ- more flexible and resilient officials ignored warnings the Senate that would re-
said Trump's priority is to dis- ing masks, gloves, gowns domestic manufacturing about the risks associated build the Strategic National
tribute a vaccine "as soon and ventilators hobbled capability," he said. with America's overdepen- Stockpile and strengthen
as possible." Kadlec said, the U.S. response to COV- Health experts have called dence on foreign manu- U.S. manufacturing of med-
without elaborating, that it ID-19 and was likely a fac- for the same changes but facturing and a lack of ical masks, gowns and oth-
wasn't correct to conclude tor in the country's death say there's a vacuum of adequate preparation at er protective gear.
that this meant the coun- rate, which is higher per federal leadership to imple- home. "We weren't ready for the
try couldn't see a vaccine capita than almost every ment them right now. Of the hundreds of CO- pandemic," Lu said. "And
sooner than January. other country in the world. "Having a single nation- VID-19 related bills intro- we are still not ready."q