Nearly 3 million Americans have not received their second COVID-19 vaccination on time

Millions of Americans have not received a second dose Coronavirus According to the CBS MoneyWatch review of the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines within the recommended period to ensure optimal protection from COVID-19.

As of Wednesday, more than 2.8 million Americans who received their first injection (about 12% of those who received the vaccine) were one of two approved for use in the United States, Moderna. I had not received a second dose within the 28 days prescribed for the vaccine. Other vaccines jointly manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany will be given 21 days after the initial dose.

The number of people who have not yet received a second vaccination is based on the latest Public data From the CDC. Vaccine and healthcare experts who reviewed CBS MoneyWatch figures said there were scattered reports of delays in taking both shots within the proposed time frame.

Bruce Y. Lee, a health care and public policy researcher at City University of New York, said, “I’ve heard cases where people trying to schedule a second shot are trying to do so.” Said. “Vaccine deployment is difficult, and even more difficult if two doses are required. All of these should have been planned last year before deployment, but this was not the case. It’s proof. “

As of the end of January, 96% of Americans who received the first vaccination had received the second vaccination. 4 days at well-defined intervalsAccording to previous CDC data obtained by CBS News. However, authorities have not released the latest information on how the country is doing to manage both shots within the recommended period.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people taking the second dose on time has declined, and the gap, which exceeded 1 million just a week ago, is rapidly expanding to 2,826,134 as of February 24. ..

A CDC spokeswoman said some of the recent slowdowns were due to the weather when both the first and second doses were given. She said the CDC plans to release new information about the completion rate of the second dose shortly.

Hospital managers and state health officials who spoke with CBS MoneyWatch said that people were delayed in receiving their second dose due to insufficient vaccine doses and snuff schedules and shipments. I thought it was the cause.

• In Arizona, residents who went to a mass vaccination site at State Farm Stadium on the outskirts of Phoenix couldn’t book a second shot. After that, the scheduling issue was resolved, but there was a delay. Only 35% of people vaccinated in Arizona receive a second vaccination, one of the lowest rates in the state. This is about 50% of the national total.
• In Pennsylvania, officials said last week that due to a previous mistake, many healthcare providers used the dose that should have been reserved for a second shot of a new patient. As of last week, the issue caused the state to be at least 60,000 short of what it needed to deliver a second shot on time.
• In Iowa, some counties that were supposed to receive Moderna vaccine shipments got the Pfizer-BioNTech version instead. The two shots are incompatible. Earlier this week, state health officials told about 14,000 residents of Des Moines and its surroundings who took shots of Moderna that they had to wait past the scheduled dose for follow-up doses.

According to medical experts, Americans are simply less concerned. Choose to skip the second shotProblems warned by experts can undermine the deployment of vaccines.

Dr. David Basel, Head of Vaccination at Abella Medical in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said it is one of the state’s largest healthcare networks, with a second shot of less than 1% of all vaccinations. It was. He added that the biggest reason people didn’t show up between shots was a temporary illness. “We first vaccinate the elderly and those at greatest risk. People often get sick and are not COVID.”

The lack of vaccine for the second vaccination seems to be an important issue for the hospital system. Premier’s pharmacist and vice president, Jessica Daley, who buys medicines from thousands of hospitals in the United States, has been instructed to use all the doses many hospitals had on their first shot, and more supplies. Said to come. But recently, they have seen their shipments decline.Many states have more vaccines in the last few weeks Pharmacy chain Or Place of mass vaccination And away from the hospital.

“We did a spot survey, and the number one concern from the hospital is actually vaccination,” said Daily. “I’ve heard that the hospital hasn’t received a second dose.”

New 42-day window from CDC

More encouraging, some health experts believe that delaying the second dose of the vaccine will not ruin the US vaccination efforts. Earlier this month, the CDC released new guidance that a second shot could be given within 42 days of the first dose, but authorities reiterated that a second jab within 21 or 28 days would be optimal. ..

Recent early studies suggest that a single shot, though not as much as two shots, provides important protection against the spread of the coronavirus.

“Looking at the other problems we have in the grand plan of things, this is a small problem,” said Will Humble, a former public health official in Arizona.

Humble also said that by allowing more people to receive the first dose instead of completing the second dose, the vaccine deployment would be more equitable for the minority community and the overall infection rate. Said that could be reduced.

“Because of the way the trial was formulated, we put ourselves in a less life-saving way,” he said, with an initial focus on two doses.

Still, most health professionals recommend that individuals strive to adhere to the recommended intervals for two vaccinations. Tin Longdai, a health care professor at Johns Hopkins Carry Business School, said the supply of vaccines has not increased enough to continue the current pace of vaccination. He added that the state needs to refrain from taking more doses to ensure that it has enough doses to give a second dose within the appropriate time frame.

Earlier this week, Dai Survey Two co-authors at the University of Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley found that increasing the second dose and increasing the number of people receiving at least one injection did not reduce the prevalence of coronavirus. did. The paper found that longer doses slowed infection rates, but prolonged pandemics eventually led to more cases.

“I think distribution will improve,” Dai said. “But unless vaccine supply increases exponentially, the backlog will increase. [of people waiting for that second shot].. “