U.S. states this week asked the federal government to reduce the delivery of a significant number of COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Virus) vaccines, as demand from people everywhere has plummeted, which has led to a growing stockpile of vaccines in the United States.
Now, U.S. states are asking the Biden administration to send only a fraction of the rationed amount. In this week alone, hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccine have been rejected. More than 150 million Americans (about 57 percent of the U.S. adult population) have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, but the U.S. government’s push for the vaccine is now becoming extremely difficult, with everyone from the federal government to state governments trying to find ways to persuade people to get vaccinated.
The U.S. government announced last week that authorities will share the entire U.S. stockpile with the world once AstraZeneca’s vaccine doses pass safety reviews, another sign that vaccine supplies are in surplus across the country.
The Associated Press reports that Wisconsin officials are asking the government next week to allocate just 8 percent of the ration (originally 162,000 doses), while Kansas asked for 9 percent of the original amount last week.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health said the state has five weeks’ worth of doses in stock on hand. Last week, for the first time, state officials requested fewer doses than were allotted because of a drop in demand. The state plans to request just 9 percent of the original number of coronavirus vaccines next week for locations other than Chicago.
In Iowa, officials are requesting 29 percent of the original vaccine requirement. North Carolina has scaled back its vaccine requests for the past week by 40 percent. Washington state also cut its order by about 40 percent this week.
However, not all areas have cut their vaccine requirements. Maryland and Colorado are still ordering in full. So is the New York metro area.
Health experts generally say that about 70 percent of the nation’s population needs the vaccine to achieve herd immunity. The Biden administration hopes to have 70 percent of adult Americans vaccinated by July 4, but acknowledges the downward trend in vaccination rates and the difficulty of appealing to people who doubt the effectiveness of the vaccine or simply don’t want to get the shot.
The White House recently announced that federal officials will expand small and mobile vaccination clinics for hard-to-reach communities and promote education campaigns. Authorities have also touted incentive programs, such as discounts for shoppers who get vaccinated at grocery stores.
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