The recent availability of the COVID-19 vaccination brings dawn to a new day and has presented hope to ending the deadly disease. Now, it’s up to state and local officials to get the vaccinations administered in their respective jurisdictions under their responsibility (”Don’t hold back second doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Trump administration tells states in bid to speed shots to people 65 and older,” Jan. 12).
They had at least six months to plan for this, and they have failed. Math is the first step to develop a plan to implement vaccinations for the population. But our officials are failing at the math of it all let alone the logistics.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has recently stated that we need to administer a million vaccinations a week. That sounds like a big number, and it is, but it is also woefully short of the need. According to recent census data, there are 330 million citizens in the United States with 257 million above the age of 18 (the age requirement for the vaccination thus far). With an anti-vaccine population of 30%, that leaves 180 million to be vaccinated. At a million a week, that will take 3.5 years!
As for Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan wants 10,000 vaccinations a day. Using the same math, vaccinations for Marylanders would take a year. That’s far from acceptable. It’s time for our leaders to do the math and figure out what resources are needed to fast track the necessary training and logistics to execute a vaccination plan based on math.
Now, given the leadership’s poor COVID-19 math skills, how do you think the trillions of dollars in relief have been determined? That’s a new math class.
Michael S. Kane, Finksburg
Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter.