CDC pushes back deadline for states on vaccine delivery until after Election Day
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a letter to governors this week pushing back a Nov. 1 deadline for states to be ready to receive and distribute coronavirus vaccines until after the presidential election.
The letter, obtained by McClatchy, sets a new date of Nov. 15, updating a request made weeks ago from CDC Director Robert Redfield for states to be ready to distribute COVID-19 vaccines by a deadline that was two days before Election Day.
The initial deadline caused a storm of controversy due to its proximity to Election Day, raising questions over whether political pressures were coming to bear on CDC leadership.
Since that time, the companies that are producing the leading vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials – Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca – have all stated that they do not anticipate submitting clinical trial data for review by the Food and Drug Administration until mid-November at the earliest.
“We ask that all jurisdictions plan to be ready to receive vaccine by November 15, 2020,” states the letter signed by Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
President Donald Trump had repeatedly pushed for a vaccine to be available by Election Day, promoting Operation Warp Speed – the federal program designed to speed up the research, development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics – as a signature accomplishment of his administration.
The new letter makes new requests of state governments, including that jurisdictions return signed data use agreements, identify sites for the prepositioning of vaccine deliveries, and have provider information uploaded into the agency’s vaccine ordering system, all by Nov. 2, so that they will be prepared for shipments by Nov. 15.
“OWS will be testing the distribution and data infrastructure,” Messonnier wrote, referencing Operation Warp Speed. “In order to increase readiness at all levels, we ask that all jurisdictions plan with a need to be ready to receive pre-positioned vaccine by November 15, 2020 (updated). To meet the November 15 readiness date, additional items must be in place and tested.”
Over 226,000 lives have been lost in the United States to the coronavirus pandemic, and the daily number of diagnoses has reached a record peak, with over 40 states experiencing increases in cases.
“We acknowledge that you are being asked to do unprecedented work. These updates and the asks above are only part of what is needed to be fully ready for vaccine administration to begin,” Messonnier wrote. “We are reminded of the urgency of this work as cases and mortality continue to rise across the country from COVID-19.”
