Waiting lists are still long, but COVID-19 vaccinations are beginning to ramp up. Finally.
Even though supplies remain short, they are increasing (Washington Post):
President Biden said Thursday that his administration had finalized deals for another 200 million doses of the two coronavirus vaccines authorized in the United States, giving the country enough vaccine by the end of July to cover every American adult.
In statements made after a tour of the National Institutes of Health, Biden announced the contracts and again reminded Americans that wearing a mask to stem the spread of the coronavirus is a “patriotic responsibility.”
“We remain in the teeth of this pandemic,” he said, observing that January was the deadliest month of the pandemic, in which “we lost over 100,000 of our fellow citizens.” Mutations of the virus posenew challenges, he said, even as infections and hospitalizations begin to decline.
Axios summarized other comments:
- “We’ve now purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans, and now we’re working to get those vaccines into the arms of people,” Biden said after he toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the NIH complex that developed the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna.
- “The new strains emerging create immense challenges, and masking is still the easiest thing to do to save lives,” the president added.
- “As the President directed, we are expanding our supply of COVID vaccines to protect people as quickly as possible,” acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran said in a statement.
Almost lost in this week’s impeachment and pandemic news is word that the relief package under review in the House Ways and Means Committee would enhance Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years to compensate for the pandemic’s economic costs (Axios again):
- People making up to 150% of federal poverty would be eligible for fully subsidized plans, and no one — regardless of their income — would pay more than 8.5% of their income for health insurance.
- People receiving unemployment would also be eligible for full subsidies for a year.
- The Energy and Commerce legislation incentivizes states that haven’t done so to expand Medicaid.
Larger subsidies were part of Biden’s plan for upgrades to the ACA. Extending the increases beyond two years might be part of that (TBD). We are still looking for a public option and other improvements. They will still face opposition in Congress and that opposition will stand as long as elections are tilted structurally towards Republicans.
Passage of H. R. 1, the ‘‘For the People Act of 2021’’ for overhauling elections, may have to come first.