The rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 has been unprecedented in scale and ambition. At the same time, the response has been deeply inequitable: higher income countries secured high volumes of the three approved vaccines and have been able to distribute them at their own pace, while lower income countries have struggled with limited production and delivery. This is a problem that will not go away unless there is a collaborative effort to manage vaccine access and distribution globally in a fair way.
J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine plant in Baltimore, MD suffers a production interruption when workers mix a batch of the vaccine with another product and contaminate some doses. The incident will not affect J&J’s commitment to deliver 20 million doses to the government by end-March, but it may reduce the number of doses available to states and vaccination sites in April.
Rochelle Walensky, the soon-to-be 19th director of CDC, pledges to increase science-based communication in an effort to reduce vaccine hesitancy and antivaccine sentiment. Walensky also pledges to expand both vaccination sites and those administering doses in hard-to-reach areas to address disparities in vaccine coverage among states.
Vaccine stocks begin to dwindle as health officials struggle with logistical challenges. Officials enlist regional and supermarket pharmacies to help speed up vaccine delivery, The Wall Street Journal reports. The federal government asks Rite Aid Corp, Kroger Co, and Stop & Shop Supermarket LLC to start giving the vaccine to frontline workers and eligible vulnerable populations weeks earlier than originally planned in order to troubleshoot protocols.