How is that vaccination campaign going? Hospitals say it should be moving faster

The American Hospital Association on Thursday called on the Trump administration to take action to speed up coronavirus vaccinations, saying it is concerned about the “slow pace” so far.

Hospitals are at the center of the first stage of vaccinations for health care workers, but they said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that they “have seen a number of barriers” so far.

Richard Pollack, the CEO of the American Hospital Association, wrote that there are problems with lines of communication.

An eyebrow-raising line: “It is unclear who is responsible for answering questions or by what mechanism all interested parties will receive the answers to these questions that should shape their actions going forward,” he wrote.

Pollack also advised that the administration could hold update calls where hospitals can ask questions, as has already been done around distribution of the coronavirus treatment remdesivir. “On the calls, relevant federal leaders provided brief updates and stakeholders were encouraged to ask questions or raise problems that needed to be resolved. A similar strategy might serve you well here,” he wrote.