After spending weeks publicly complaining that the federal government was not providing them with a sufficient number of COVID-19 vaccine doses, states have only been able to administer a small fraction of the vaccines they have received. Even allowing for some lag in reporting and lost time over the holiday season, the United States is likely to fall far short of its goal of vaccinating 20 million people in December. Failure to pick up the pace in the new year will needlessly cost lives and extend the pandemic.

There are arguably many culprits for the slow rollout of the vaccine, but one discouraging sign is the extent to which many states have ignored science and common sense and put together complicated distribution plans that not only bog down the process, but will likely result in more deaths.