Pick up the pace of vaccine distribution

"We need to do better at every level."

That’s what the nation’s top infectious disease expert — Dr. Anthony Fauci — told Newsday this week, about the efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines.

Fauci is right.

At every level, the vaccine rollout has been far too slow, with far too little public information along the way. And while the effort is just beginning, and the holidays may have slowed the pace, we have to move more quickly.

Start with the federal government’s slow supply chain, which has left New York with just 300,000 doses per week — a pace that, if it remained, would take the state years to get its 20 million residents two shots each. What’s more, federal health officials aren’t providing the states with a plan of what to expect in the weeks or months ahead. Clear planning, metrics, and communication with the states, and a much faster dose distribution, are necessary.

State officials also must ramp up their preparations, so they’re ready for the next phases, and so residents know where they stand on the timeline. It’s also unacceptable that the state still lacks a dashboard of vaccine distribution data, a delay reminiscent of the issues the state had last spring with getting testing and case statistics online.

Ultimately, it’s up to individual hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and other facilities to do the hard work of getting the vaccine into an arm as quickly as possible. It’s worrisome that some hospital systems, like the Nassau University Medical Center, are distributing such a low percentage of the vaccines they receive. While there’s disagreement on the details, even the hospital officials admit it’s far too low. Scheduling concerns are not a legitimate excuse, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is right to suggest that if certain hospitals can’t handle the distribution, others should take on their efforts.

Also worrisome: the number of health professionals and other essential workers apparently declining to take the shot. The two vaccines already approved have been deemed safe and effective for most adults. Unless your doctor specifically tells you there’s a reason to wait, get the shot as soon as it’s available.

Getting the vaccines to the general public is more complicated. The state’s thousands of planned sites is a good start. State officials could consider establishing a simple way for people to pre-register, be notified when it’s their turn and told where to go, that goes beyond what it has currently.

Fauci told Newsday the first two weeks of January are key to catching up. With the arrival of a new, mutated strain that is more contagious, a faster pace is the only way we can meet Fauci’s goal of getting back to "a strong degree of normality" by the fall.

— The editorial board