Biden’s plan to end policy of keeping Covid vaccine doses in reserve is the first step in a difficult journey

The transition team of President-elect Biden has taken its first step to reexamine the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines put in place by the Trump administration. Instead of keeping half the doses in reserve to make sure that every person who received their first dose can receive their second dose, the transition said Friday that it would release the vast majority of available doses of authorized vaccines at once. It’s a great start. But it is also only a start. The argument to hold back the second dose was not without merit at a time of limited supply of the vaccines, developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, as well as Moderna. The fear has been that, without sufficient doses in reserve, there would be mayhem, with some sites keeping doses in reserve themselves and recipients becoming upset if their second dose was not available.