中新网6月28日电 (蒋鲤)美国白宫疫情应对协调员杰弗里·齐恩茨(Jeffrey Zients)日前在疫情简报会上承认，美国无法完成拜登总统5月初宣布的在7月4日前让70%的美国成年人接种至少1剂新冠疫苗的目标。
美国不仅对内接种目标无法如期完成，拜登政府在6月底前向海外提供8000万剂疫苗援助的计划也面临延迟。白宫21日公布剩余5500万剂疫苗的分配计划，不过，白宫同时表示，由于疫苗援助需要克服储存、运输及语言障碍等多方面挑战，现在不能保证剩余的5500万剂疫苗能够在月底前发货。
据约翰斯·霍普金斯大学数据显示，截至27日，全球累计新冠确诊病例超过1.81亿例，美国累计确诊3362万例。在美国国内疫情没有得到有效控制，全球疫情形势仍然严峻的今天，疫苗是对抗新冠病毒的最有力武器，理应及时分配。然而，拥有充足疫苗储备的美国却患上严重的“拖延症”，迟迟无法完成自己许下的承诺。
对内，美国将无法完成国内疫苗接种目标的“锅”甩给年轻人，声称“美国年轻人认为新冠病毒对他们的影响较小，因此接种意愿不强。”殊不知，他们所谓的“接种意愿不强”，很大程度上是由于美国政府疫情初期就未给予新冠病毒足够的重视。时任美国总统特朗普甚至曾将新冠称为“大号流感”，误导了许多民众。没有重视就没有紧迫感。正是因为美国政府一年多来对新冠疫情的不重视，才导致了美国民众接种目标的“拖延”。
而在对外援助上，尽管拜登早就宣布将于6月底前与其他国家分享8000万剂疫苗，却在距离截止日期仅剩一周多的时间才公布详细的分配计划。诚然，疫苗援助需面对美国政府所声称的储存、运输及语言障碍等多种难题，但如果有一个切实可行的计划，这些问题并不会影响援助疫苗的“发货时间”。
作为大国政府，美国应该在设立目标之初就制定出相应的计划，更应未雨绸缪，提前考虑各种困难因素，而不是等到目标无法完成时推卸责任，顾左右而言他。“美国年轻人接种意愿不高”、“疫苗储存、运输难度高”等一系列所谓的“困难”是美国政府和白宫智囊团队所无法预见的吗？显然不是。正确普及防疫知识，就能相应地提高民众接种疫苗的积极性；提前制定并实施疫苗援助计划，就能及时 “发货”；至于语言障碍问题，更不可能对疫苗援助带来如此之大的影响……由此看来，美国政府的目标无法完成，不是因为他们不能，而是因为他们不想，“拖延”主要还是态度的问题。美国政府在疫苗接种和援助上的“拖延症”让人不禁怀疑，他们此前给出的所谓目标和承诺，究竟是根据实际情况所制定下来的可行目标，还是打肿脸充胖子的“政治作秀”？
面对病毒的蔓延和病例的增长，美国政府与其忙着制定不切实际的目标，以及为自己的“拖延症”寻找借口，不如踏踏实实地向美国民众普及疫情的严重性和接种疫苗的必要性，早日将所储存的每一剂疫苗分配到真正需要它们的人手中。
Is U.S. government COVID-19 ‘procrastination’ getting worse?
By John Lee
(ECNS) — The United States will likely fall short of President Joe Biden’s goal of partially vaccinating 70 percent of American adults by Independence Day, said Jeffrey Zients, head of the White House COVID-19 response team, on June 22.
In addition to the delayed domestic vaccination goals, the U.S. government will also put off its plan to provide 80 million doses of vaccine assistance overseas set by the end of June as the White House announced on June 21 there was no guarantee the scheduled 55 million doses would be delivered by the end of this month due to “storage, transportation and language barriers.”
As of June 27, more than 181 million COVID-19 cases were confirmed worldwide, and the figure in the U.S. has topped 33,620,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Under current conditions, vaccines are still the most powerful weapon against COVID-19 and should be allocated in time. However, the U.S., which has sufficient vaccine reserves, suffers from serious procrastination and seems unable to fulfill its promises.
The U.S. government is blaming young Americans for failing to meet domestic vaccination targets, claiming they think COVID-19 has little impact and therefore, are less willing to get vaccinated. However, their so-called “less willing” is largely due to the fact that the U.S. government did not pay enough attention to the virus in the early stages of the epidemic. Former U.S. President Donald Trump even referred to the coronavirus as the “corona flu”, which misled many Americans and caused the delay of vaccination goals.
In terms of global vaccine assistance, although Biden had announced his administration would share 80 million doses of vaccines with other countries before the end of June, he just released a detailed distribution plan about one week before the deadline for implementation. It’s true that vaccine assistance faces storage, transportation and language barrier difficulties, but if there is a practical plan, these issues would not delay delivery.
As a major power in the world, the U.S. should have formulated a corresponding plan in the beginning and taken all kinds of factors into consideration in advance, instead of passing the buck when its goals cannot be achieved. The U.S. government and White House think tank should have foreseen the so-called “difficulties” mentioned above.
Correct popularization of epidemic prevention knowledge can help boost vaccination among the youth. Developing and implementing a vaccine assistance plan in advance can help ensure in-time delivery. As for language barriers, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on vaccine distribution. To sum up, the U.S. government’s goals cannot be achieved, not because it cannot, but because it does not want to, with such “procrastination” a matter of attitude.
Amid U.S. “procrastination” in vaccination and global assistance, people can’t help wonder whether the so-called goals and promises given by the U.S. government are feasible, and whether it is based on actual conditions or just a “political show”.
In the face of a spreading virus and increasing cases, it is better for the U.S. government to popularize epidemic prevention knowledge and vaccinate the American people than find an excuse for “procrastination”. The most important thing for the U.S. now is to distribute every dose of vaccine to those who really need them as soon as possible.