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Scant funding and scattered logistics have slowed distribution process as coronavirus case numbers rise, painting a dire picture for the future
Healthcare workers treat coronavirus patients at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on 31 December 2020. Photograph: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
Healthcare workers treat coronavirus patients at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on 31 December 2020. Photograph: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
Victoria Bekiempis in New York and agencies
Sat 2 Jan 2021 02.00 EST
Last modified on Mon 4 Jan 2021 07.00 EST
America had no trouble hitting the appalling milestone of 20m coronavirus cases, but reaching the federal government’s own target of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2020 proved a huge problem.
She wouldn t do it again.
Hadler said she waited 14 hours and that a brawl nearly erupted before dawn on Tuesday when people cut in line outside the library in Bonita Springs, Florida, where officials were offering shots on a first-come, first-served basis to those 65 or older. I m afraid that the event was a super-spreader, she said. I was petrified.
The race to vaccinate millions of Americans is off to a slower, messier start than public health officials and leaders of the Trump administration s Operation Warp Speed had expected.
Overworked, underfunded state public health departments are scrambling to patch together plans for administering vaccines. Counties and hospitals have taken different approaches, leading to long lines, confusion, frustration and jammed phone lines. A multitude of logistical concerns have complicated the process of trying to beat back the scourge that has killed over 340,000 Americans.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Terry Beth Hadler was so eager to get a lifesaving COVID-19 vaccination that the 69-year-old piano teacher stood in line overnight in a parking lot with hundreds of other senior citizens.She wouldn’t do it again.Hadler said that.
UpdatedSat, Jan 2, 2021 at 11:43 am ET
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Patricia Marson is comforted by therapy dog, Cleo, as she becomes the first patient at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Boston to receive a coronavirus vaccine. At far left is nurse Lisa Lopes and at far right is chaplain Hali Diecidue. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
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