USA TODAY
In late December, the idea that safe, effective vaccines against COVID-19 had been created in less than a year seemed miraculous – a triumph of science and American ingenuity.
It took only six weeks to tarnish that image.
Pride in the remarkable feat has been replaced by confusion, accusations of unfairness, frustrating waits and the nightmare of vaccine vials gathering dust while tens of thousands of people die of what is now a preventable disease.
Even people leading the effort are at a loss to explain how and why things took such a bad turn so fast. I would love to understand it, said Moncef Slaoui, head of the vaccine development effort under the Trump administration and an adviser to the Biden administration.
Lori Torres was nervous about returning to teaching in-person this week in Chicago. Torres, 47, teaches Spanish to all grades at her preK-8 school and has a medical condition that puts her at increased risk for COVID-19, but her request to continue to teach from home hadn t been approved.
Her short-term concern was addressed when the Chicago Teachers Union voted to stay remote while union and city leaders haggled over the safety of working conditions in buildings.
But Torres long-term concern – getting a vaccine before she returns to Monroe Elementary School – is unresolved.
Chicago Public Schools vaccination schedule for teachers won t start until mid-February – and the district wants staff and students back before that. Some teachers in Chicago s suburbs, meanwhile, already have received vaccinations.
While thousands of seniors in Florida are bleary eyed and angry after spending weeks trying unsuccessfully to get an appointment for a coronavirus vaccine, the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner told a national television audience on Friday that it was a breeze.
Richard Parsons, who is also a former chairman of Citigroup, said he left his home of New York to travel to Florida specifically because the Sunshine State made it so easy.
“It’s orderly and sensible,” the 72-year-old Parsons said while appearing on Squawk Box on CNBC. “I don’t know how Florida got the march on everyone else. But, you go online. You make an appointment. You get an appointment.”