Media Coverage

The race is on to curb the spread of Covid-19 and protect the health-care services in the United States from being overrun. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced today that the government will no longer hold vaccine stocks in reserve for Americans’ second doses. More vaccine supply seems like a good idea, but the decision is risky. Azar’s decision puts him in agreement with President-elect Joe Biden, who had already planned to release the stockpile after the Inauguration next week. The two vaccines authorized in the U.S. both require recipients to get a second shot within a few weeks of the first one, and Azar had previously said that due to concerns over manufacturing and the risk of undermining public confidence, it was better to to hold back half of the doses. That, apparently, has changed.

Every day, news broadcasts in Illinois and around the country report new COVID-19 cases and deaths. These broadcasts play out like a horror movie, with progressively worse outcomes each day and new records being set. At some point, most people become insensitive to all the bad numbers reported, except those like health care workers in the trenches treating COVID-19 patients, or morticians managing COVID-19 deaths. They need no news reports to tell them the state of COVID-19.

An article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on May 5 inspired a new partnership to help get food to Angelenos in need. Reporter Kevin Rector’s story, Rotting food. Hungry masses. Chaotic supply chains. Coronavirus upends the U.S. food system, detailed how the country’s food industry was flipped on its head by the COVID-19 pandemic. It included an interview with Chris Tang, a supply chain expert and professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Tang explained that billions of dollars of food was being left to rot on California farms at the same time that area food banks were seeing demand soar.

As of Tuesday, Georgia is the fourth slowest state in the United States when it comes to providing people the COVID-19 vaccine. That is some progress after the Peach State fell dead last nationwide on Monday afternoon. According to a map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia shows the rate of vaccinations is around 1,607 vaccinations per 100,000 residents. In comparison, Florida, just next door, which is also currently vaccinating those age 65 and older, is vaccinating people at a rate of 2,949 per 100,000 residents. From public health experts to state representatives like Democratic state Sen. Nan Orrock, the common reaction is that Georgia should be doing better.

The push to develop vaccines for COVID-19 was called Operation Warp Speed, but the delivery of two vaccines approved so far might be called Operation Hurry Up and Wait. The delay is especially pronounced in North Carolina, which late last week ranked 42nd in the nation in the percentage of its available vaccines that has been administered: 21.5 percent. Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday that the rankings fluctuate daily because many state rates are closely bunched. But she said North Carolina’s performance is improving. “The rate of vaccinations has really picked up,” she said.