An adviser on Joe Biden's COVID-19 task force told CNBC on Thursday that the longer the Trump administration refuses to cooperate in the transition since Biden has been called the winner in the election, the more people will die from COVID-19.
Dr. Celine Gounder said the Trump administration's hands-off approach has resulted in state leadership filling the gaps where they can to combat the coronavirus.
"This is a reflection of how the response has been drought under this current administration and really and abdicated leadership on this to state and local officials. So you're just seeing more of the same, unfortunately, Gounder said.
"But with something like distribution of a vaccine, and we saw earlier this year with the distribution of personal protection equipment and ventilators, or as Gov. Cuomo said, it was like a giant eBay that the states were competing on. That is not a good approach to distribute something like a vaccine...certain vaccines may be more suitable, for example, for distribution in rural areas, maybe the elderly so there really needs to be a coordinated plan to make best use of a limited resource," Gounder said.
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"I think so. I think the longer we wait on transition, the more people will get infected and die. I think this is really a major impediment to rolling out and scaling up the vaccine," she added.
As part of Operation Warp Speed, the Department of Health and Human Services announced last week they have established partnerships with large chain pharmacies and networks that represent independent pharmacies and regional chains in all 50 states and territories, covering 60 percent of pharmacies, to increase access to a COVID-19 vaccine.
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