NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Thursday, President Joe Biden took steps to greatly increase COVID vaccine availability nationwide, which is great news for medical professionals begging for more vaccines.
"Just before I joined you, I was listening to President Biden talk about using the Defense Production Act and all the resources available at the federal level to ramp up production," said Dr. Deidre Gifford, the Acting Commissioner of the Department of Public Health.
Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to compel companies to make supplies needed to combat the pandemic, including more vaccines and supplies to administer the shots. The DPA will also be used to produce more protective equipment, like masks.
In just over a month, nearly 260,000 vaccinations, which combines first and second doses, have been administered across Connecticut, which is not where we need to be.
"Well, do the math if we’re going to get the adult population, in the state of Connecticut, vaccinated in five months, if you back into that calculation the state of Connecticut needs to do 280,000, starting next week, 280,000 vaccines per week," said Dr. Thomas Balcezak
Chief Medical Officer for Yale-New Haven Health.
He says the nation's fourth-largest hospital system would need 10 times the average weekly doses they currently receive to help the state achieve herd immunity by Summer.
Despite the gap between supply and demand growing, YNHH continues to open new, high-volume vaccination centers, in greater New Haven and in close proximity to each of their seven campuses, between Greenwich and Westerly, RI.
"Of course, the demand for vaccines worldwide is very, very high," Gifford said. "So, time will tell whether the raw materials and the capacity is there (to produce more)."
President Biden has pledged 100 million vaccinations would be administered in his first 100 days in office.
"I don’t know how they’re going to get there," said Balcezak.