The federal government will now start sending out all available doses of the COVID vaccine, rather than holding some in reserve for second doses, per The Wall Street Journal. It will also recommend the vaccine be available to everyone over age 65.

Broader eligibility criteria have helped Israel vaccinate faster than any other country, and significant evidence has emerged for getting more people their first dose sooner. It’s great to see the government acting on this information.

I strongly suspect we are in a race between new, more contagious variants of COVID and the vaccines. Right now, as far as we know, those variants aren’t that common in the US. But if we follow the path of the UK, they could quickly become dominant, resulting in an unprecedented burden on hospitals. We need to use this time to vaccinate as quickly as possible and prevent such a catastrophe.