Why is the US so slow to roll out its own vaccine?
Since the vaccination drive began three weeks ago, approximately 4.23 million Americans have been vaccinated, or 1.5% of the population. In Israel, meanwhile, 1.3 million people have been vaccinated, or one-seventh of the population. And this, be it noted, when the United States has 10 million additional doses of the Modena and Pfizer vaccines ready. The Trump administration hoped to have vaccinated 20 million people by the end of 2020, so there’s a serious gap between the expectations and the reality.
Last week the press was full of stories about the difficulties Americans encountered in making appointments to be vaccinated. In Florida there were reports of long lines and of people bringing plastic chairs and blankets in order to keep their place in the line, even at night. In New York, Governor Cuomo came under fire for imposing a new set of bureaucratic requirements and penalties on vaccine providers, to force them to prioritize certain populations.
That having been said, by other measures the US is keeping pace. Although the 4.23 million vaccinations is far behind the hoped-for 20 million, the current total ranks the US in a close second place globally, just behind China’s reported 4.5 million. But Israel is way out in front on per capita vaccinations, with 12.59 per 100 people, compared to the US in fourth place with 1.28 per 100 people.
True, the United States is an enormous country, and that makes all the difference in any comparison with Israel. Getting the vaccine to a small town in Alaska or Hawaii isn’t remotely comparable to delivering it to Kiryat Shmona or Eilat. But for all that, it does seem that there are significant differences between how the two countries have gone about it. While Israel set up a call center that makes it (relatively) easy to schedule an appointment for vaccination, and offers leftover doses to random people who aren’t in risk categories so that not a single dose goes to waste, in the United States everything’s happening much more slowly, and although medical staff have mostly been vaccinated, there’s no efficient system to guarantee that the process moves forward rapidly and smoothly in the population at large.
Create a free account to keep reading.
