Surgeon general tells states not to let priority guidelines slow vaccinations

Surgeon General Jerome Adams doesn’t want states slowing down vaccinations out of an overly cautious desire to do them in the exact right order.

“Your headline today really should be, ‘Surgeon General tells states and governors to move quickly to other priority groups,’” Adams said on NBC. “If the demand isn’t there in 1a, go to 1b, and continue on down. And if the demand isn’t there in one location, move those vaccines to another location.”

The 1a and 1b priority groups are set by a CDC advisory committee: 1a is health care workers and nursing home residents, 1b is people over 75 and front-line essential workers, and the list continues down the line of prioritization.

Big picture, vaccinations still lagging: According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker, only about 4.8 million out of about 17 million vaccines distributed have actually been administered so far.