There is a lot of finger-pointing over who is to blame for the lack of vaccines in Florida. The state has the highest percentage of senior residents, yet thousands of people over 65 are still trying to schedule their first vaccine appointment. In the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, almost all appointments for first-time vaccines have been canceled with no word on when they will be rescheduled. A lack of supply has been blamed. One person who received their second vaccine yesterday at Baptist Hospital in Miami-Dade told News & Guts, “It was empty. The stations were all staffed but almost no patients there. I asked them about it and they said they really wanted to do more, but they simply haven’t gotten a shipment. No supply. It’s a shame but not their fault. They don’t have the doses.”

The White House is weighing in, suggesting the doses are in Florida but haven’t been distributed properly. During the briefing on Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki remarked:

“I will note because we’re data first here, facts first here, they’ve only distributed about 50% of the vaccines that they have been given in Florida. So clearly they have a good deal of the vaccine. That supply will need to continue to increase as they are able to effectively reach people across the state, but part of the challenge, as we were just talking about, is not just having the supply, that’s pivotal, but also having vaccinators and having vaccine distribution places and doing it in a way that’s reaching people where they are and meeting local communities.”

Today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing back on what Psaki said, insinuating the doses that are sitting on shelves are for second doses.

The Sun Sentinel writes:

Despite DeSantis’ focus on supply, the state has experienced severe difficulties in distributing the vaccine. The effort has been marred by web site and phone system failures, long lines and confusion about where to go for the shots. Many of those who succeeded in getting the initial shots say it’s not clear how they’re supposed to obtain the required booster in three or four weeks.

This isn’t just a Florida problem though, earlier this week CDC Director Rochelle Walensky commented on millions of vaccine doses that have been shipped, but are essentially missing, “I can’t tell you how much vaccine we have. … The fact that we don’t know today, five days into this administration and weeks into planning, how much vaccine we have, just gives you a sense what the challenges [are] we’ve been left with.”

There is hope that soon vaccinations will significantly ramp up. The Washington Post reports:

Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus response, is expected to inform governors of the increase on a call Tuesday afternoon, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The weekly allocation is forecast to go from about 8.6 million doses to about 10 million doses.