Operation Warp Speed Needs To Speed Up

ARLINGTON, VA - DECEMBER 09: Director of the Defense Health Agency Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place speaks to reporters during a press conference to discuss plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution to members of the U.S. military, at the Pentagon on December 9, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. Ten military officers assigned to Operation Warp Speed, led by the Department of Health and Human Services and the DOD, are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist with allocation and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to members of the U.S. military. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

If the Trump administration is going to brag about the vaccines and “Operation Warp Speed,” the program designed to develop and distribute the new drugs quickly, then they should be ready to take the heat when they fall behind. And they are falling far behind their goals.

The U.S. is currently vaccinating one million people a week. We need to be vaccinating 3.5 million a day in order for the U.S. to achieve herd immunity by next summer.

3.5 million vaccinations a day are needed to achieve herd immunity by June 2021. We’re currently at 1 million a week.

Operation Warp Speed needs to get… speedier.pic.twitter.com/gJIPVZY0pq
— Dr. Sweta Chakraborty (@swetac) December 29, 2020

As we reported earlier today, the vaccine rollout has been much slower than promised.

This afternoon, President-elect Biden criticized the Trump administration for its slow start.

“The Trump administration’s plans to distribute vaccines is falling behind, far behind. As I long feared, and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should.” —President-elect Joe Biden

Biden has set a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.

Can the process go faster? It certainly did back in 1947 when New York City vaccinated millions against smallpox in just a couple of weeks.

In 1947, New York City vaccinated 5 million people against smallpox in two weeks. How can we be so much worse at this 75 years later?
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) December 29, 2020