States Try To Pick Up Pace Of Sluggish Vaccine Rollout As Frustrations Mount

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Frustration Growing Over Georgia COVID Vaccination Efforts
[Around] Georgia, there are people who want to be vaccinated and can’t find out when and how they’ll get the shots. Meanwhile, some health care providers say they received hundreds more doses than they requested. Those issues are fueling anger and frustration about the state’s vaccination program, as Georgia continues to lag behind most states in the vaccination rate and as the toll from COVID-19 mounts. On Monday, Georgia for the first time surpassed 5,000 people currently hospitalized with the virus. (Berard, Teegardin, Edwards and Stirgus, 1/4)

Fox19.com: Beshear Takes Aim At Slow Vaccine Rollout, Announces Change For Providers
A new goal for Kentucky’s vaccination providers will allow them to distribute some amount of excess vaccines to people outside the rollout’s rigid phases, meaning a member of the general population could receive a dose before an at-risk person, a healthcare provider or an essential worker. Gov. Andy Beshear and Department of Public Health Provider Steven Stack, MD, announced the new goal for vaccine providers Monday. The goal encourages providers to inject 90 percent of the vaccine doses they receive in a week. Those deemed highest priority according to the rollout’s phases (below) will still get that priority, but excess doses should be distributed rather than remain in storage. (Planalp, 1/4)

Columbus Dispatch: What's Taking So Long? COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout In Ohio Slowed By Holidays, Unpredictable Shipments
As Gov. Mike DeWine applies pressure to get COVID-19 vaccines administered faster throughout Ohio, those charged with inoculating people against the virus say a combination of factors has contributed to a slow rollout. ... “This is not your routine stop by the primary care office to get a flu shot. This is a whole different operation,” said Dr. Andy Thomas, chief clinical officer at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. (Rouan and Kovac, 1/4)

WTVR.com: It's A Slow Rollout For The COVID-19 Vaccine In Virginia
"This is a vaccination campaign that is just unprecedented in its size, scope, and complexity," Dr. Laurie Forlano, with the Virginia Department of Health, said. Those factors have contributed to Virginia administering less than 100,000 doses of the 450,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine received so far. (Covil, 1/4)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccine Reporting Delays Cited In D.C. Region 
Coronavirus vaccinations are off to a sluggish start across the greater Washington region, with only a fraction of allotted doses being administered in the past three weeks. Delays in reporting might make the problem look worse than it is, officials said. In Maryland, less than one-quarter of the state’s initial batch of 273,875 vaccines has been used, according to state data released Monday. In Virginia, only one-fifth of the state’s allotment of 451,075 doses, or 89,326 vaccinations, had been administered, according to state figures. (Schneider, Brice-Saddler and Cox, 1/4)

The Baltimore Sun: Rocky Start To Maryland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Raises Concerns 
State and hospital officials offered myriad explanations for the slow start to COVID-19 vaccinations in Maryland, but the effort is drawing questions and concerns for a program that eventually needs to inoculate millions of residents. Officials said there were holiday interruptions, complex distribution issues and a purposeful staggering of the shots that could cause adverse reactions. Delayed reporting by contractors also has been a problem. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan plans to address the matter further during a news conference Tuesday. (Cohn and Wood, 1/5)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Is Ramping Up Vaccine Drive After What Governor Calls A Rollout With ‘Bumps’
Massachusetts officials Monday outlined plans to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations after what Governor Charlie Baker described as a state and national vaccine rollout burdened by “bumps.” Shots for more than 45,000 first responders, such as police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, will start next Monday at sites across the state, including four regional vaccination hubs that later could be used to vaccinate others, Baker said. And in a change from priorities outlined last month, the governor said he’ll adopt a proposal from his COVID-19 advisory panel to move state residents age 75 and over — a population deemed to be at higher risk for coronavirus — to the front of the vaccine line, along with residents with two or more chronic health conditions, in the second phase of inoculations slated to begin in February. (Weisman, 1/4)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments After Slots Fill Quickly
Houston’s Health Department launched an online portal for residents to apply for an appointment at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic Monday but quickly ran out of available slots for the remainder of the month. “The response to Houston’s first COVID-19 vaccine clinic was massive, quickly filling the appointment slots for the department’s current vaccine allocation,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a City Hall news conference where he was about to get his own shot in the arm. “The vaccine clinic appointments are booked for the rest of this month, and the department is not taking additional appointments at this time.” (McGuinness, 1/4)

AP: Nebraska Expects Ramp Up Of Vaccinations After Slow Start
“Certainly we would like to see more vaccines go out more quickly, but if you look at relative to what’s going on in the rest of the country and the holidays and everything, we expect we’ll see a pickup in the pace of vaccines,” Gov. Pete Ricketts said at a news conference. Ricketts said the slowdown was compounded by health care workers who took time off for the holidays and weren’t available to get vaccinated. (Schulte, 1/4)

The Washington Post: Nebraska Governor’s Statement On Vaccines For Undocumented Immigrants Sows Concern — And Confusion
Asked Monday whether undocumented workers at meatpacking plants — known hot spots for coronavirus infections — would be included in vaccinations, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts sidestepped. ... Later in the day, with confusion mounting over undocumented immigrants’ place in a mass vaccination campaign, a spokesman for the governor expanded on Twitter: “While the federal government is expected to eventually make enough vaccine available for everyone in the country, Nebraska is going to prioritize citizens and legal residents ahead of illegal immigrants.” (Knowles, 1/5)

The Oregonian: Oregon Is No. 41 In Nation For Its Slow Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout, Trailing U.S. Average 
Oregon trails 40 other states for its slow pace of getting coronavirus vaccine shots in arms, federal data show, leaving the vaccine deployment lagging as the state’s death toll hit 1,500 Sunday. Oregon has given 48,725 vaccine shots since the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved Dec. 11. But Oregon has received 190,500 doses, meaning that about 141,000 doses are still sitting in boxes as the virus continues spreading and mutating. The state health authority said 1,700 doses were given yesterday and another 1,700 shots were recorded from earlier days. (Davis, 1/3)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom: California COVID Vaccine Rollout Has Been Too Slow 
Only about 35% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that have arrived in California have been administered so far, a rate Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Monday was “not good enough” as he pledged new funding and efforts aimed at ramping up the rollout. (Money, Luna and Shalby, 1/4)

Hawaii News Now: Late Deliveries, Holiday Season Behind Slow Speed Of State’s Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout
The rollout of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan has been slower than first expected. As of Friday, roughly 25,900 doses of coronavirus vaccines had been administered across the state. The majority have gone to frontline caregivers, while work to immunize residents at long-term care facilities is also underway. ... The focus now is getting all healthcare providers who aren’t affiliated with a hospital signed up for the shot. All independent healthcare providers will need to register for the vaccine on the Hawaii Department of Health’s website. (Blair, 1/4)