Biden Criticizes COVID Vaccine Rollout, Saying "At This Rate, Vaccination Will Take Years" (Comprehensive)

Distributed over 10 million doses... less than 20% of shipments administered
US expert: "Rapid operation predicted failure, infrastructure must be established first"
First US variant virus case reported... "Worsening situation expected in January"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondents Baek Jong-min and Lee Hyun-woo] The COVID-19 vaccination performance of the Donald Trump administration has been revealed to be only about 10% of the target of 20 million vaccinations, sparking fierce criticism. President-elect Joe Biden also publicly criticized the very slow vaccine distribution. Health officials pointed out that less than 20% of the vaccines shipped to each region have been administered, emphasizing that considering the nature of vaccination, each state must properly establish vaccination infrastructure first. With nearly 20 million confirmed cases in the U.S. and the discovery of the UK variant virus, concerns are growing that the damage will worsen.

On the 29th (local time), Biden, in a speech held in Wilmington, Delaware, said, "President Trump's vaccine distribution is far behind schedule, and vaccine distribution is not proceeding properly," adding, "At the current vaccination pace, it could take not months but years to complete vaccinations." He continued, "After inauguration, I will invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate vaccine supply," urging, "President Trump should also support mask-wearing and get vaccinated."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 28th, since the first vaccination on the 14th, 2,127,143 doses of vaccines have been administered in the U.S., which is about 10% of the 20 million doses target previously announced by the Trump administration. During the same period, only 18.6% of the 11,445,175 doses distributed across the U.S. were administered. Although vaccines are stockpiling nationwide, local medical institutions' vaccination speed has not kept up, resulting in vaccination rates falling short of targets.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), also said in an interview with CNN on the same day, "Vaccinations have not reached the target numbers set by the end of the year," warning, "Considering the massive population movement during Christmas and New Year's holidays, the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. will worsen."

U.S. health experts said this failure was expected and pointed out that it was the result of focusing only on vaccine transportation without building vaccination infrastructure. Claire Hannan, executive director of the American Immunization Managers Association (AIM), criticized in an interview with the medical media Stat News, "We warned for months that over $8 billion was needed to build the infrastructure necessary for vaccine administration, but the Trump administration did not accept this."

Stat News pointed out that the Trump administration had only provided $340 million in funding for state governments to build vaccination infrastructure. Former CDC director Tom Frieden also said, "The Operation Warp Speed was run by military personnel with no experience in vaccination projects and operated like a simple transportation operation, so failure was inevitable." On the 24th, Gustav Perna, U.S. Army General and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Operation Warp Speed, also took responsibility, saying, "It was my mistake for not fully understanding all transportation processes, and no one else is to blame."

While health authorities showed confusion, the UK variant virus was first detected in Colorado on the same day, raising concerns about its spread. According to The Washington Post (WP), a man in his 20s in Elbert County, Colorado, was confirmed to be infected with the variant virus, marking the first case of the variant virus in the U.S. The cumulative number of confirmed cases in the U.S. is approaching 20 million. According to COVID-19 statistics from Johns Hopkins University, as of this day, the cumulative confirmed cases in the U.S. reached 19,521,613, with cumulative deaths at 337,918.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.