Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) released a statement Friday pushing for a more detailed vaccine distribution plan and blasting the Trump Administration’s current blueprint.
Romney called the lack of a federal distribution plan “incomprehensible” and “inexcusable.”
“That comprehensive vaccination plans have not been developed at the federal level and sent to the states as models are as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable,” Romney said Friday in a statement.
Romney also knocked the plan for relying on hospitals and pharmacies that are already overburdened, calling it “unrealistic.”
The Utah senator made the remarks after President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed failed to deliver on a promise that it would administer 20 million doses by January 1.
However, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) earlier this week show that only around 12.4 million doses have been distributed, and only 2.79 million have been administered.
“The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines is a tribute to the NIH, the FDA and to the professionals in the pharmaceutical industry. But unlike the development of the vaccines, the vaccination process itself is falling behind. It was unrealistic to assume that the health care workers already overburdened with COVID care could take on a massive vaccination program,” Romney said.
“So too is the claim that CVS and Walgreens will save the day: they don’t have excess personnel available to inoculate millions of Americans. Nor are they equipped to deal with the rare but serious reactions which may occur. Doctor offices are well-suited but the rate of patient throughput in doctor offices is predictably slow,” Romney said.
He continued, “When something isn’t working, you need to acknowledge reality and develop a plan – particularly when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake.”
The senator also urged leaders to “call on people who have carried out widespread vaccination programs elsewhere or in the past” for guidance and proposed reaching out to retired medical workers and similar volunteers to set up temporary vaccination popup sites at schools as a feasible solution.
He claimed that the program is “woefully behind,” although this stage of the plan targets those easiest to vaccinate.
“Urgent action now can help us catch up,” Romney added.
