# Lack of coordination **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 1, 2021, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420 "2021-01-01T06:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420/1 "2021-01-01T06:08:42Z")
Both approved vaccines in the US require a followup shot about 4 weeks later. Somewhere I read that Operation Warpspeed is holding back 55% of the vaccines to allow for this. (They had a reason for holding back more than 50%, but I forget what it was.) Then I read about one or two states that were holding back half of what they received for the same reason. Likely this is happening in more than the ones I read about. And I thought I read (perhaps on this board) about a hospital doing the same. So with all that holding back, there may be only about 10% of the doses actually getting to people. No wonder they’re so far behind what they planned to inject by now. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420/2 "2021-01-01T12:15:59Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So with all that holding back, there may be only about 10% of the doses actually getting to people. No wonder they’re so far behind what they planned to inject by now. The slow U.S. rollout isn’t just because of worry about second doses coming at the interval aimed for in studies. But on that: [12-week vaccine gap defended by UK medical chiefs](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55503739) > [@](#): > > the UK’s four chief medical officers - including England’s Prof Chris Whitty - said in a statement released on New Year’s Eve:. . that for every 1,000 patients booked in for a second dose, which will “gain marginally on protection from severe disease”, that would mean 1,000 more people missing out on “substantial initial protection”. So part of the U.S. problem is allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good. But most of the problem is that our level of organization and coordination is far from good. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420/3 "2021-01-01T12:29:09Z")
I think the 55% is to allow for a small amount to be rendered unusable through not being used up soon enough after being opened, or accidentally being allowed to get too warm. The stuff has to be kept really cold, so some kind of failure, whether human error, or mechanical or electric, is pretty likely to affect a few vials at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420/4 "2021-01-01T12:36:35Z")
Or some idiot purposely wasting 500 doses because politics. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lack-of-coordination/929420/5 "2021-01-01T21:21:26Z")
It sure seems like the problem isn’t one of supply, it’s one of logistics. They have far more vaccine than they’re capable of sticking into people’s arms. My neighbor owns an independent pharmacy and blames it on the CVS/Walgreens distribution plan.