[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] COVID-19 vaccination in the United States is progressing more slowly than the goal set by the Donald Trump administration.
So far, the Trump administration had pledged to supply 40 million vaccine doses nationwide and vaccinate 20 million people by the end of last month, but the actual number of vaccines administered was revealed to be less than half of that.
According to the Washington Post on the 19th (local time), the number of vaccines supplied in the U.S. by the end of last month was less than half of the target (40 million doses). Only 2,000 doses were supplied by the 7th of this month, and as of the 18th, about 31 million doses have been supplied. It is reported that the actual number of vaccines administered from the supplied doses is less than half.
Because of this, some states recently stopped vaccinations due to a shortage of vaccine stock. On the 12th, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the federal government would release its reserves in response to the vaccine shortage, but when reports emerged that there were no reserves left, state governments protested one after another.
In response, Secretary Azar appeared on MSNBC and said that although there are no vaccine reserves, he expects sufficient production of second-dose vaccines. He explained that the delay in vaccination was due to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approving vaccines later than the government had anticipated.
The Washington Post evaluated that the rapid development of highly effective vaccines is a remarkable achievement and that the U.S. vaccine distribution efforts are proceeding at a level similar to other developed countries. However, it pointed out that the delay in actual vaccine administration is worsening the overall failure of the U.S. COVID-19 response.
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