Mitt Romney Calls Out Vaccine Rollout Issues: Lack of a Comprehensive Plan from the Federal Gov’t Is ‘Inexcusable’

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The covid vaccination rollout has not been as fast as expected, and public health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Operation Warp Speed chief scientific advisor Dr. Moncef Slaoui have publicly acknowledged as much. Earlier predictions were that the U.S. would be able to administer the first round of vaccine doses to 20 million people by the end of 2020.

The most recent update from the CDC — as of the morning of December 30th — was 2.79 million doses administered. Even factoring in a sizable backlog in the reporting, it falls very short of the projections.

On Friday, Senator Mitt Romney put out a lengthy statement saying the lack of a comprehensive federal plan on vaccine distribution is “inexcusable.”

“It was unrealistic to assume that the health care workers already overburdened with Covid care could take on a massive vaccination program,” Romney said. “So too is the claim that CVS and Walgreens will save the day: they don’t have excess personnel available to inoculate millions of Americans. Nor are they equipped to deal with the rare but serious reactions which may occur. Doctor offices are well-suited but the rate of patient throughput in doctor offices is predictably slow.”

Earlier this week the president pointed the finger at states (after previously touting the success of the rollout):

It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government. We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the process along quickly, but gotten them to the states. Biden failed with Swine Flu!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2020

Romney bluntly said, “That comprehensive vaccination plans have not been developed at the federal level and sent to the states as models is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.”

He proposed bringing on people with relevant expertise and setting up mass vaccination sites, but added that while his plan may have some issues, “the current program is woefully behind despite the fact that it encompasses the two easiest populations to vaccinate: frontline workers and long-term care residents.”