According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 41.4 million doses have been handed out to the states. Only 21.8 million have been administered. Officials say they think there is a vaccine surplus, although how large of one is unclear. Bottom line: Doses should be flowing, they said But instead, states are complaining of vaccine shortages.
Task force members rechecked the numbers—local and federal data— this week to try to discover the cause. They looked at whether there was enough being manufactured to fill demand; where that vaccine had been shipped and who had received it; how much was still sitting waiting to be administered; and how many doses were still sitting in warehouses. They’ve still come up short, officials tell The Daily Beast, in part because the data sets they are working with are incomplete.
“What we are seeing now is incredible inefficiencies. You have cities canceling vaccination appointments while the data says they still haven’t administered a large portion of the vaccine that’s been shipped to them. That is the biggest problem,” said Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency doctor at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
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