NWA EDITORIAL: Slowly but surely

The folks charged with putting covid-19 vaccines into the arms of Arkansans are calling for an injection of patience as delivery of the eagerly anticipated drugs lags behind demand.

Given what Arkansans and the rest of the world have been through since the virus emerged as a public health threat, it's entirely reasonable for demand, and expectations, to be high. Americans pay their taxes dutifully -- at least most of them -- not to ensure Congress can argue over the short-sighted issue of the moment, of which there are plenty, but so we can count on our government to be like a good Scout, as in prepared, when the chips are down.

It's exactly what we expect when a natural disaster strikes. Whether it's a hurricane or tornado or earthquake, taxpayers expect that with all the trillions of dollars spent by our federal, state and local governments, they would at a minimum be prepared for predictable emergencies.

None of us know exactly when such weather-related destruction will strike, but anyone with any foresight knows they are bound to happen, so preparedness is attainable and wise. And just like those events, pandemics are an ever-present risk, a potential and probable reality. The experts know it.

Even George W. Bush, who wasn't a pandemic expert, knew it. In 2005, while vacationing on his ranch in Texas, he picked up a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. It unnerved him to the point he contacted his Homeland Security adviser upon his return to the capital and urged, "We need a national strategy."

The good news is pandemics don't happen very often. The bad news is, government doesn't pay much attention to long-term threats when there are so many short-term matters to deal with. Some of the work sparked by Bush's interest helped prepare the United States for the coronavirus, but the federal government's focus since then didn't prioritize pandemic preparedness.

Still, last year's "Operation Warp Speed" under President Trump earns credit for its support of rapid vaccine development within the pharmaceutical industry. What Arkansans and people across the country are learning now, though, is that the national and state distribution plans for the vaccines aren't measuring up.

Last Monday marked the first time vaccines were made available beyond front-line health care workers, first responders and long-term care facility residents. Phase 1-B of the Arkansas Department of Health's distribution opened the door for teachers and other school employees, childcare workers and higher education employees.

Phase 1-B, for the first time since vaccines became available, also included a segment of the general population. Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the state on Jan. 12 that people 70 years old and older could begin obtaining the vaccine starting Jan. 18. It all sounded so hopeful for the thousands of older Arkansans who have followed public health guidance and severely limited their interactions with others for almost a year now.

It is hopeful, but it's not, apparently, going to be fast.

Harps Food Stores, for example, announced by the middle of last week that appointments at their 15 pharmacies offering the vaccines were booked through February.

"We ask for your patience as there are over 440,000 people eligible in the current vaccine phase in the state of Arkansas and only 30,000 doses of the vaccine are coming into the state each week," Robert Acord, Harps Food Stores' director of pharmacy, said in a news release.

The situation in Arkansas could be compared to driving a pickup truck loaded with 100 water bottles into a crowd of 1,000 parched residents displaced by a natural disaster; the driver will be the most popular person in town until the last bottle disappears and most of the crowd remains thirsty.

On the first full day in office, President Joe Biden appeared to recognize the disappointment over the vaccine roll-out. He's promised to "move heaven and earth" to get more people vaccinated, detailing a federal response President Trump failed to pursue. Biden compared the effort to a "wartime undertaking," noting that the 400,000 Americans who have died as a result of the pandemic far outpaces the number of deaths the nation witnessed in World War II.

Among the measures we believe most Americans view as reasonable is the use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up vaccination centers, beyond the pharmacy-based approach advanced earlier.

But Biden also injected a dose of reality: "The brutal truth is it's going to take months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated." So, for the foreseeable future, the president urged Americans to keep on keeping on -- meaning to wear masks, to socially distance themselves and to wash hands frequently.

Patience may be in shorter supply than the vaccines themselves, but Americans have control over that. When Phase 1-B was opened to people 70 and older, it was an effort to get as many doses of the vaccines into the arms of as many Arkansans as quickly as possible. It was a push to ensure vaccines weren't just sitting around. It was the right policy decision.

But the distribution approach hasn't yet caught up. As of Friday, Arkansas had recorded 58.3% of the doses received had been given. Things are worse in the long-term care facilities, where by Friday 14.1% of the doses received had been given. That's simply too slow.

Patience is required, but if the pace of vaccinations doesn't pick up appreciably in days, not weeks, Arkansans have every reason to be upset.

Nobody promised everyone 70 and older would be able to get the injection immediately. That some of them have gotten their first shot should be viewed as progress. We hope, with a stronger federal plan and better coordination with the states, the wait time for vaccinations will quickly begin to shrink.

Time never goes so slow as it does when a long-awaited outcome seems to be within reach. While frustration is understandable, let's count our blessings: Vaccines are a reality and they're coming. Even though the process won't happen as fast as anyone wants, the fact that it's happening at all right now is nothing short of a miracle.