In an op-ed for The Washington Post, KFF President Drew Altman calls for a simplification of the troubled COVID-19 vaccine distribution system. He writes, “Hundreds of different distribution programs are being organized across the states and counties for front-line health workers, residents of long-term care facilities, essential workers, the elderly and the general public, all in different sequences. The system we have makes sense on paper, but it’s too complex to be effectively implemented by our fragmented, multi-layered health system.”

“The country needs a distribution strategy that our fragmented, multi-layered health-care system can effectively implement. This will require more federal direction, a simpler priority structure and a different role for the states,” he adds.