COVID-19 vaccines

Dear Mr. President,

Has someone you know passed away due to the coronavirus? Over 500,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and the numbers are climbing higher and higher every day. The only way to combat this deadly virus is to vaccinate the entire country as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, thousands of life-saving COVID vaccines are being wasted daily due to unclear rules and regulations about what to do with leftover vaccines. Mr. President, you should implement a bill that clears up what should be done with leftover COVID vaccines and stops the wasting of vaccines so that we can get more people vaccinated and put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our main goal as a country should be to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, many life-saving vaccines are being wasted. In the article “Reps. Budd & Garcia Introduce Bill to Stop Vaccine Waste,” a member of the House of Representatives, Ted Budd said "It's outrageous that states are wasting COVID-19 vaccines at a time when so many people need them. These overly-strict regulations should not stand in the way of vaccinating as many Americans as possible, as quickly as possible” (“Reps. Budd & Garcia Introduce Bill to Stop Vaccine Waste”). This makes me think that the current rules and regulations are slowing down the vaccination process. They are causing life-saving vaccines to be wasted, delaying the process. This is important because whatever is being done now is not working very well and changes should be made to vaccinate more people. This is coming at a time when it is more important than ever to get vaccines to people. According to the article “Health officials emphasize need to vaccinate,” Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health says that with the new COVID-19 variants spreading, “the rollout of vaccinations is more important than ever”. “There are at least 14 people confirmed to be infected with the COVID-19 variant, Toomey said. The U.K. strain is believed to be 50% to 70% more contagious, and British health officials say they now believe it is 30% deadlier than the dominant strain” (“Health officials emphasize need to vaccinate”). This means that the COVID-19 outbreak is only going to get worse if everyone doesn’t get vaccinated soon. This is important because this strain is thought to be deadlier than the dominant strain which means it has the potential to take more lives. However, these deaths can be prevented as long as we are vaccinating as efficiently as possible. This all demonstrates that it is more important now than ever to get these vaccines to people. Unclear rules and regulations should not stand in the way of vaccinating Americans.

I think passing this bill is a big first step to ending the COVID-19 crisis. The goal for this bill is to stop the wasting of vaccines. “This bill was prompted by reports nationwide, including from California and New York, that vaccines are being allowed to expire because of overly-strict and unclear state and local rules and regulations” (“Reps. Budd & Garcia Introduce Bill to Stop Vaccine Waste”). Vaccine administrators are afraid to administer any extra vaccines because they think they might be breaking the rules. Unfortunately, this means that people who need vaccines fast aren’t getting them because they are being wasted. I think this bill would clear up any confusion of state and local regulations and more vaccines would be administered, saving more lives. “The bill would allow vaccine providers to administer leftover COVID-19 vaccines to individuals eligible to receive the vaccine. The bill would allow vaccine providers to disregard any existing state or local law to the contrary that prohibits them from administering leftover vaccines. The bill includes a rule of construction that nothing in the bill shall be construed to override federal, state, or local law other than with respect to the phased allocation of dosing” (“Reps. Budd & Garcia Introduce Bill to Stop Vaccine Waste”). I believe that the main goal of this bill is to achieve the most efficient rate of vaccination rather than following the current rules and regulations so closely that vaccines get wasted. The vaccination process will drastically increase once all leftover vaccines are allowed to be administered. This bill has the power to save many lives. This all demonstrates that the current regulations on COVID vaccines are not effective. This bill would make the vaccination process a lot faster and will save many lives.

This bill would clear up what should be done with leftover vaccines and stop the wasting of vaccines. This will allow us to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and return to our normal lives. This problem should be a top priority because people are dying every day from this virus and every vaccine wasted could result in another life lost. This bill is the best solution to this problem because it will make sure everyone is on the same page and the main goal is to administer as many vaccines as possible. You should listen to me and consider passing this bill so that we can make the coronavirus a thing of the past and so that no more lives will be lost to this deadly virus.

Sincerely, GHS student

Works Cited

"Health Officials Emphasize Need to Vaccinate." The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, 31 Jan

2021. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2483662791?accountid=51266.

Reps. Budd & Garcia Introduce Bill to Stop Vaccine Waste. Federal Information & News

Dispatch, LLC, Washington, 2021. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2479709760?accountid=51266.