The plan to have pharmacies handle vaccine distribution isn’t going so hot at the moment.

The state provides no unified signup system.

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The relatively limited number of pharmacies that have the vaccine are overwhelmed. Website registration systems have broken down or been temporarily shut down. Waiting lists are hundreds of people long. The locations of pharmacies with vaccines don’t always match neighborhoods of greatest needs, even if you can get through by phone or web.

Part of the problem is supply. No one expected enough to be on hand to accommodate the 400,000 elderly and school people eligible to get shots beginning Monday in Arkansas (long after the practice in neighboring states.)

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And we now learn the supply situation is worse than thought. The Washington Post reported today:

When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced this week that the federal government would begin releasing coronavirus vaccine doses held in reserve for second shots, no such reserve existed, according to state and federal officials briefed on distribution plans. The Trump administration had already begun shipping out what was available beginning at the end of December, taking second doses directly off the manufacturing line.

Now, health officials across the country who had anticipated their extremely limited vaccine supply as much as doubling beginning next week are confronting the reality that their allocations will not immediately increase, dashing hopes of dramatically expanding access for millions of elderly people and those with high-risk medical conditions. Health officials in some cities and states were informed in recent days about the reality of the situation, while others are still in the dark.

Five more days of the Trump administration. But even if Joe Biden can turn things around at the national level, we’re still stuck with Arkansas’s insufficient response to both COVID-19 itself and vaccination distribution.

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The latest news pinched states, such as Oregon.

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Arkansas’s situation? Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said:

Our allocations have remained the same, and will be approximately the same level next week. We’ll continue to work closely with the federal government on allocations.

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