Why COVID vaccine rollout is slower than federal officials promised

LA County continues to be the nation’s hotspot for COVID-19 cases. The county has been averaging around 16,000 new cases every day since the new year. Around 436,000 people have been vaccinated in California, a state with some 40 million residents. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti blames the federal government for the slow rollout. But there are also reports that many frontline health care workers are turning down the vaccines.

“There is no coordinated national strategy to getting people vaccinated. … So the states have put plans together,” says Dr. Oliver T. Brooks, who’s part of the team that drafted the guidelines for the rollout. He’s also chief medical officer of Watts Healthcare Corporation.

He says he believes more doses will come to LA County. “I think once people see that people are getting vaccinated, they're going to want it too. … We will have more vaccines. I'd say in six months, we will have a fair amount.”