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Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose inoculation joins Pfizer and Moderna’s two-dose vaccines for use in the United States. This weekend to be marked the addition of a third COVID-19 vaccine to America’s arsenal against the pandemic. The scientific advancements have been plagued by bad weather, bad logistics, and bad information in getting shots into people’s arms. The coronavirus coordinator in the administration of President Biden, Jeff Zients spoke in his first television interview since taking the job. He said there has been real progress over the past month on vaccine distribution. But, the American public still needs patience with just over 50 million vaccine doses given since President Biden took office. Jeff Zients said, “We hit a grim milestone on Monday. 500,000 people have died from COVID in the US and everyone’s life has been impacted. You know, too many businesses and schools are no longer open. So this is a national emergency, a war”.

Jeff Zients also said, “I wanna start by giving credit where credit is due, which is to the scientists and the researchers and the people who participated in the clinical trials. It enabled us to have two vaccines ready in really a record-period of time and these two vaccines are very effective. So that was the good news. The bad news is there really was no plan to ramp up the supply of those vaccines. So there wasn’t enough vaccine. There were not enough vaccinators, people actually take the vaccine and turn it into vaccinations by putting needles into arms. And then third there just were not enough places for people to get vaccinated. There was no comprehensive plan or strategy. He added, “Well I think that’s a fair feeling this is life and death”.

Jeff Zients added, “We need to make sure that every day we’re getting more and more people vaccinated, we’re increasing the supply. We’re increasing the number of vaccinations. We’re increasing the places where people can go. So I understand the frustration. And we’re doing all we can to move as fast as we can”. Point to be noted that Jeff Zients fixed the bungled rollout of the Obamacare website in 2013. Now he’s tasked with fixing this vaccine rollout. As part of the plan, the administration has opened seven of 18 mass FEMA vaccination sites, supported more than 400 smaller vaccine centers across the country, and has approved the distribution of vaccines through pharmacies, targeting under-served communities. The chief public health officer for Montgomery County, Maryland, Dr. Travis Gayles said, “I think from a federal perspective. There have been significant improvements. They actually have a plan now”.