McMaster ‘frustrated’ with SC’s slow COVID-19 vaccine distribution, threatens action
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster expressed frustration at the slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout and threatened to issue executive orders to speed up the process if the state health department does not act.
During a press conference Tuesday, McMaster said the state would no longer adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline pushing states not to move on to the next vaccination phase until 70% of people in the current phase have been vaccinated.
“We are frustrated and we are determined to eliminate the bottlenecks that are slowing this down,” the Columbia Republican said.
Instead, the state will set a “hard deadline” of Jan. 15 for members of phase 1a — healthcare personnel, especially those who face exposure to COVID-19 — to get vaccinated or to make a vaccine appointment, McMaster said.
“It’s like boarding an airplane,” McMaster said. “When they call your rows, if you don’t get on the plane, you go to the back of the line.”
McMaster said he had meetings with hospital executives and DHEC officials to discuss speeding up the vaccination process. He spoke with DHEC Monday to set his Jan. 15 deadline, he said.
If DHEC doesn’t act to quicken the vaccination process, McMaster threatened to take action.
“We expect to see some progress,” McMaster said.
Beyond issuing executive orders, McMaster did not say specifically what he intended to do to speed up vaccinations.
McMaster joins a bipartisan chorus of Palmetto State lawmakers who have voiced their displeasure with the speed of vaccination distribution.
Last week, DHEC announced 31% of the vaccines it had received had been administered. The department maintained that it was working faster than most of the nation; on average, 19% of the vaccine has been distributed across the country.
Still, lawmakers continue to criticize the organization.
“We cannot sit back and accept that this might be a slow process,” S.C. Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, tweeted Tuesday. “Those in charge of this process need to be actively searching for ways to speed this up. A lackadaisical approach that it appears DHEC is taking will ultimately cost South Carolinians lives.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 12:38 PM with the headline "McMaster ‘frustrated’ with SC’s slow COVID-19 vaccine distribution, threatens action."
