Top Biden administration health officials on Sunday expressed concern about limited vaccine supplies but offered measured optimism that the worse-than-expected rollout would be improved, while warning that the current crunch for doses posed a pressing threat.
“I think that the supply is probably going to be the most limiting constraint early on, and we’re really hoping that after that first hundred days we will have much more production,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Top Biden administration health officials on Sunday expressed concern about limited vaccine supplies but offered measured optimism that the worse-than-expected rollout would be improved, while warning that the current crunch for doses posed a pressing threat.
“I think that the supply is probably going to be the most limiting constraint early on, and we’re really hoping that after that first hundred days we will have much more production,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Asked on ABC’s “This Week” whether President Joe Biden’s promise of 100 million Americans vaccinated in his first 100 days was good enough, Surgeon General pick Vivek Murthy said that goal was a reflection of the realities the rollout faces.
“That's a floor; it's not a ceiling,” Murthy told host George Stephanopoulos. “It's also a goal that reflects the realities of what we face, what could go right but also what could go wrong.”
Both officials said the potential approval of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be a positive future development, but Murthy noted that Biden’s 100-million-vaccines promise is not reliant on that happening. ...
Experts have pointed out that vaccinating 100 million Americans in 100 days will still leave the nation far short of herd immunity as the nation's caseload continues to grow. The total number of diagnosed coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 25 million. More than 417,000 people have died in the U.S.
Walensky said that the data she had seen so far indicated the current supply problems were an immediate concern, rather than a long-term issue. ...
