There has been remarkable progress toward a #COVID vaccine, but the Trump Admin has shown no leadership in preparing for its production and distribution. As @TopherSpiro & I lay out in our new @amprog paper, it will take a massive, unprecedented effort. 1/ americanprogress.org/issues/healthc…
To date, the Admin. has not released a comprehensive vaccine plan. Meanwhile, experts believe two doses will be needed,requiring the manufacturing, financing, distribution, and administration of 462M doses to achieve herd immunity and 660M doses for the entire U.S. population. 2/
It’s very plausible that we could have an effective vaccine, and it could still take up to TWO YEARS for Americans to receive it because we haven’t planned properly and created the right kinds of infrastructure. 3/
We need the infrastructure to fill, ship, and administer vaccines millions. We cannot rely on private drug companies’ partnerships with untested manufacturers to do this. Even the drug companies are concerned. 4/ fiercepharma.com/vaccines/globa…
This will take unprecedented gov't action and coordination. Congress’ first step, $20 billion for vaccine initiatives @BARDA & $6 billion for vaccine-distribution, is not enough. We can and must do more, including activating the Defense Production Act. 5/ nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/…
We also need to make sure that any vaccine gets to everyone in US -- and world. Need 7300 community vaccination clinics, $7.2B to @who to help low/middle-income countries. And massive vaccination campaign -- looking at you @kingjames and @taylorswift13. 6/ washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…
How important is this? In '56, Elvis Presley was recruited to get a polio vaccine on the Ed Sullivan Show. Photos of Elvis getting his shot were everywhere. In six months, the vaccination rate for teens skyrocketed from 0.6% to more than 80 %. 7/ 
A massive coordinated, govt-run effort is needed, and to get that we will need to change who heads our government.
We need a comprehensive plan.
Tens of thousands of lives, millions of livelihoods, and a normal way of life are at stake. END/ americanprogress.org/issues/healthc…
We need a comprehensive plan.
Tens of thousands of lives, millions of livelihoods, and a normal way of life are at stake. END/ americanprogress.org/issues/healthc…
