Thread by @DrLeanaWen

While I applaud pres-elect @JoeBiden's commitment to speeding up vaccinations, I'm concerned about the new policy to release all available doses without guarantee of timely administration of 2nd doses for all 1st doses given.

My @PostOpinions op-ed (1/6): washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

First, the bottleneck now is not supply, but the "last mile" between getting the vaccine to distribution sites & injecting it into people's arms. Speeding up this process should be the focus, or else vaccines will just sit in different freezers.

(2/6)

I'm also deeply troubled by the idea that we could be rushing first doses out without a guarantee of timely 2nd doses. Clinical trials were conducted with 2nd dose 3- or 4-weeks after the 1st. If we deviate from science, this could fuel vaccine hesitancy.

(3/6)

There is also an ethical consideration. Those who chose to get the 1st dose had the reasonable expectation that they’d receive the 2nd in a certain time frame. Is it ethical to now withhold the 2nd shot, given that they never consented to an unproven, revised protocol?

(4/6)

Biden has not said that he intends to hold back the second dose. However, a policy to release all available doses could end up having that effect if the promised supply of the second dose doesn’t come through or if the speed of vaccine administration cannot keep up.

(5/6)

President-elect @JoeBiden's clear commitment to speeding up #covid19 vaccinations is refreshing & urgently needed. But this policy proposal could create more problems than it solves, and could worsen mistrust and hinder progress at a time when we can least afford it.

(6/6)