COVID-19: Efforts to Increase Vaccine Availability and Perspectives on Initial Implementation
Abstract
Providing the public with safe and effective vaccines to prevent COVID-19 is crucial to mitigating the public health and economic impacts of the disease. The U.S. had almost 30 million reported cases and over 545,000 reported deaths as of March 27, 2021. The federal government took a critical step in December 2020 in authorizing the first two COVID-19 vaccines and beginning distribution of doses across the nation. The government had distributed about 180.6 million vaccine doses, and about 147.8 million doses had been administered, as of March 27, 2021, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The CARES Act includes a provision for GAO to report on its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report examines, among other issues, actions the federal government has taken to increase the availability of COVID-19 vaccine doses, and challenges with initial vaccine implementation--that is, prioritizing, allocating, distributing, and administering vaccine doses--identified by stakeholders and steps the federal government has taken to improve vaccine implementation. GAO reviewed documents from the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, transcripts of public briefings, data from CDC, and interviewed or received written responses from federal officials, vaccine company representatives, and select public health stakeholders. GAO incorporated technical comments from the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as appropriate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 14, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1157542
Entities
People
- Alison Goetsch
- Alyssa M. Hundrup
- Angie Nichols-friedman
- Christopher B Murray
- Darnita Akers
- Ethiene Salgado-rodriquez
- Fatima Sharif
- Gay H. Lee
- Jason S. Lee
- Jeff Mayhew
- Jennie Apter
- Kaitlin Farquharson
- Katheryn Hubbell
- Kelly Demots
- Kim Yamane
- La Sherri Bush
- Linda Mciver
- Meghan Shrewsbury
- Miranda Riemer
- Nicolaus Heun
- Nora Adkins
- Patrick Netherclift
- Ryan Han
- Will Simerl
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office