New Cases: 653,102 (⬆︎ .67%)
New Deaths: 16,016 (⬆︎ .76%)
USA
New Cases: 192,065 (⬆︎ .76%)
New Deaths: 3,886 (⬆︎ .92%)
Vaccination Scorecard
Total Vaccinations: 16.2 million
Total Priority Population: 14.2%
Total Population: 4.9%
Two stories at NYT, illustrating the obvious - that maybe corporations are people after all, because some of them are real assholes.
(pay wall)
Health officials are frustrated that available doses are going unused while the virus is killing thousands of people each day. Many vaccine appointments have been canceled.
As the coronavirus tears across much of Texas, Dr. Esmaeil Porsa is grappling with one of the most formidable challenges he has faced: The Houston hospital system he operates is running out of vaccines.
Dr. Porsa, the chief executive of Harris Health System, which treats thousands of mostly uninsured patients, warned on Friday that its entire vaccine supply could be depleted by midday Saturday. The problem is not one of capability — the vaccination centers Dr. Porsa oversees have easily been administering as many as 2,000 vaccines a day — but of availability.
“All of a sudden the distribution of vaccines stopped,” Dr. Porsa said. “It’s perplexing and frustrating because I keep hearing that there are high percentages of vaccines that have been distributed but not administered.”
In the midst of one of the deadliest phases of the pandemic in the United States, health officials in Texas and around the country are growing desperate, unable to get clear answers as to why the long-anticipated vaccines are suddenly in short supply. Inoculation sites are canceling thousands of appointments in one state after another as the nation’s vaccines roll out through a bewildering patchwork of distribution networks, with local officials uncertain about what supplies they will have in hand.
- and -
Pfizer Will Ship Fewer Vaccine Vials to Account for ‘Extra’ Doses
After the surprise discovery of an extra dose in every vial, Pfizer executives successfully lobbied the F.D.A. to change the vaccine’s formal authorization language. The company charges by the dose.
In December, pharmacists made the happy discovery that they could squeeze an extra vaccine dose out of Pfizer vials that were supposed to contain only five.
Now, it appears, the bill is due. Pfizer plans to count the surprise sixth dose toward its previous commitment of 200 million doses of Covid vaccine by the end of July and therefore will be providing fewer vials than once expected for the United States.
And yet, pharmacists at some vaccination sites say they are still struggling to reliably extract the extra doses, which require the use of a specialty syringe.
“Now there’s more pressure to make sure that you get that sixth dose out,” said Michael Ganio, the senior director for pharmacy practice and quality at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
So the people who're doing the real work - the ones at the broken end of the bottle every fucking day - they've figured out how to "do more with less", which is what they've been told to do for 30 years, and the bean-counters get wind of this, and they decide to punish all of us by cutting the supply, which, in effect, raises the price.
Because of course.
Because that's life here in USAmerica Inc.
Because I guess corporations are people after all, because some of them behave like real assholes.
Are you surprised? I'm not. This is what comes of corporate rule & a lack of an overarching administrative system. Hoping like hell that it will change soon but am willing to give the new kid on the block time to sort the inherited mess out.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. No surprises on that one at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's consistent - we've been running in that direction for decades, which is why I try to emphasize Nancy MacLean's book.