At the Kern County Fairgrounds, about 300 pre-selected people per will be in line to get their COVID-19 vaccine over the next few days, eventually to increase to 5000 per day, according to Kern County Public Health. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has begun its first 100 days with the goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans within that time frame.
Joe Biden said “our plan is as clear as it is bold,” but 23ABC political analyst and CSUB professor, Dr. Ivy Cargile says it's not impossible. We have the resources, she said, but it's all about deployment.
"In the past the reason why things like SARs and H1N1 have not blown out of proportion is because there was an immediate federal response,” Dr. Cargile said. "This is where federalism comes in. You do need the assistance of your state and local governments in order to have everyone doing what they're supposed to be doing, to ensure that the public health of the community, of the entire society, is in fact taken care of."
Dr. Cargile said there's been discussion of enacting the Defense Production Act, a wartime law, to assist in manufacturing of PPE and the products needed to put the vaccine together and test more efficiently yet accurately.
"It's not just about convincing people to get themselves vaccinated, but actually deploying all these vaccines. but it's also about having enough supply of the vaccine," Dr. Cargile said.
In tandem, it's the coordination of all three levels of government, Congress and the people that will move us closer to vaccinating as many people as possible. Dr. Fauci said we’ll need to vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the population to reach herd immunity and in turn open the economy back up.
Cargile did add that this administration has not only inherited a pandemic but a racial reckoning, an possible impeachment and removal of the previous president, and economic downturn.
"Any of those by itself could be a challenge, but they have way more than that. We do have to keep in mind that as much as we want them to act as fast as they can to start fixing things, America was not built to act fast,” Dr. Cargile said. “American law is incremental. That's the way the framers set it up."
