In a Wednesday news conference Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urged governors to get COVID-19 vaccines into as many people as possible as quickly as possible, and not let "perfection be the enemy of the good."
The initial focus has been on vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents. But with as much as 70% of distributed vaccines still sitting on pharmacy shelves, Azar said the focus should shift to vaccinating more people rather than on precisely who is getting the shots.
He praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for allowing senior citizens to have access to the shots alongside health care workers.
"We would much rather see states move as quickly as possible and use every possible avenue to meet demand – as places like Florida are trying to do – then to leave the vaccines sitting in freezers," Azar said. "It would be much better to move quickly and end up vaccinating some lower priority people than to let vaccine sit around while states try to micromanage this problem. Faster administration could save lives right now."
For months, government officials have said that to maximize the benefit of a limited supply of vaccines people should be vaccinated by category, starting with health care workers on the front line of fighting COVID-19.
As the first vaccine was approved, an advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the initial group to include nursing home residents, who have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, and those who care for them.