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 The 8,987,322 people who have been jabbed with the first of two
shots, according to the CDC, represent less than one-third of the 25
million total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Monday sought permission from
the Trump administration to directly purchase 100,000 doses of the
vaccine manufactured by Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE, which
was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency
use.
The FDA has also approved a vaccine made by Moderna Inc.
"We remain ready to accelerate distribution to get doses into arms,"
Whitmer, a first-term Democrat, said in a letter to Health and Human
Services Secretary Alex Azar.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that the city
could run out of vaccine doses if the federal government does not
send more. He has pledged to inoculate 1 million New Yorkers by the
end of January.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is considering releasing to states
more vaccine doses that the federal government had stockpiled in an
effort to ensure enough supply for a required second dose. Biden
takes office on Jan. 20.
Second shots of both authorized vaccines are prescribed for three or
four weeks after the first.
Public health experts have said no U.S. state, including New York,
has so far come close to using up its federal allotments of
vaccines, a much slower-than-expected roll-out blamed in part on
rigid rules sharply limiting who can be inoculated.
The vaccinations have yet to make a dent in the health crisis as the
pandemic claimed on average about 3,200 lives nationwide each day
over the last week. COVID-19 has killed more than 374,000 people in
the United States since March.
States in recent days have been adding vaccination capacity with the
ad hoc conversion of sports venues, convention halls and empty
schools into vaccine centers.
DODGER STADIUM BECOMES MASS VACCINATION SITE
Monday marked the last day of testing for the virus at Dodger
Stadium in Los Angeles, which will be converted to a mass
vaccination site by the end of the week, according to local leaders.
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 Los Angeles County, with a
population of about 10 million people, has been
an epicenter of the latest surge of the pandemic
in the United States, with cases and deaths
soaring since early November and many hospitals
overwhelmed.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director
Barbara Ferrer told a news conference on Monday
that hospitalizations stood at more than 8,000
on Jan. 8, an increase of 884% from early
November. "This deadly virus
continues to spread at alarming rates... We fully expect to see
another increase now that we are almost two weeks out from the New
Year's holiday," Ferrer said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last week relented on his demand that
all healthcare workers be offered a vaccine before other groups
become eligible, which led to hundreds of doses being wasted as
half-finished vials were discarded at the end of each day.
He has since said that certain groups of other essential workers and
people over age 75 as of Monday can make appointments to receive a
shot.
There are now over 4 million people in New York state eligible to
receive the vaccine out of a population of about 19 million, Cuomo
said on Monday at his annual State of the State Address, but only
about 1 million doses on hand.
"We only receive 300,000 doses per week from the federal
government," he said. "At this rate, it will take us 14 weeks, just
to receive enough dosages for those currently eligible."
New York has so far recorded nearly 40,000 COVID-19 related deaths,
by far the most of any U.S. state. Nearly 30,000 people have died in
California, the nation's most populous state.
Texas and Florida have been vaccinating people over age 65 since
late December, although reports from those states have indicated
that demand has far outstripped appointments.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani and Jonathan Allen in New York, Anurag
Maan in Bangalore, Daniel Trotta in San Diego and Dan Whitcomb in
Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Aurora Ellis and Christopher
Cushing)
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