UA Cancer Center oncology nurse Iris Delfakis receives the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine administered at Banner-UMC on Dec. 17, 2020.
A small policy change in Washington D.C. could be a big help to local officials leading the COVID-19 vaccination effort.
Vaccine is in short supply, but so is information. The chief medical officer of Pima County, Doctor Francisco Garcia, says it's hard to make long term plans for distributing vaccine, when the state and the county don't know how many doses the federal government is sending until just a few days in advance. "Part of the challenge that we've had with the state is that they don't know what they're getting, therefore we don't know what we're getting, and so it's a trickle-down impact," Dr. Garcia told news media on a conference call Wednesday.
That's set to change now that President Joe Biden has promised to tell states three weeks in advance how much vaccine they'll be receiving. Dr. Garcia says the policy change will bring greater certainty in planning vaccination clinics in the months to come. "I hold my breath honestly every Tuesday or Wednesday just as I'm getting texts from the different facilities letting me know that they've received vaccine, so that will let us be more much more strategic in terms of our vaccination efforts," Garcia said.
Across the country, the effort to administer the vaccine has been hampered by the tight supply, and a lack of advance communication from the federal government, which is in charge of distribution.
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