Finally, a goal and a plan

Can it be done in 100 days? That is the goal for President-elect Joe Biden, who vows to administer 100 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office. That is an ambitious goal, much more expedient than what we have seen. States are accusing the current administration of sitting on doses of the vaccine, calling for the release of more of the vaccine, as well as the ability by states to purchase the shots directly from the manufacturers. That makes sense. We should be doing everything we can to get as many people inoculated as quickly as we can. Progress has been made, particularly among health care workers and residents and staff at nursing homes. Firefighters are being inoculated, but we’re told it could be summer before most Wisconsinites are urged to roll up their sleeves. There is some progress. The state is planning mobile vaccination teams to administer the shot, much like it did with expanded testing. Meanwhile, the University of Wisconsin System is employing nursing and pharmacy students to help administer the shots. That is the kind of collaboration that is needed to make this huge effort go as quickly as possible. Whether that can be done in 100 days remains a question, but at least we now have a goal, and a plan to get there.