Eight McCourters Selected For Prestigious Presidential Management Fellows Program

4 min readFeb 21, 2021

The McCourt School of Public Policy is excited to announce that eight students and alumni were selected as Presidential Management Fellows for the Class of 2021.

Overcoming this pandemic must be our top priority as a nation. And while scientists have come through for us by developing safe and effective vaccines in record time, we need more than just a medical miracle to come out of this pandemic. We need to pull off a manufacturing and logistical miracle, too. That’s why my Administration hit the ground running on day one with a plan to purchase an adequate vaccine supply, work with providers to ramp up production, set up vaccine centers across the country, and mobilize a massive effort to administer shots in every community.

As a result, we are now on track to exceed our goal of administering 100 million shots in my first 100 days in office. We’ve increased vaccine supply to states by over 50 percent since my Administration began. We’ve seen the 7-day rolling average of vaccinations increase from 892,000 shots per day when I took office to 1.7 million shots per day in just four weeks. And where we were hundreds of millions of doses short on supply just one month ago, we’re now on track to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July.

We’re mobilizing more vaccinators, including retired doctors and nurses, and federal medical personnel that we use in disaster relief efforts.

We’re creating more places where people can get vaccinated — new mass vaccinations sites at stadiums, community centers, and large parking lots across the country, and sending vaccines to pharmacies and community health centers in the hardest-hit and most underserved parts of America to ensure that the vaccine is administered equitably. That wasn’t happening before; now it is.

There’s a lot more work to do, and it’ll take time to get back to normal. And as we make progress every day, I know people have a lot of questions and a lot of worry. That’s why the most important part of our plan to beat this pandemic is to be honest about our successes and our setbacks. To that end, we want to make sure you hear directly from the experts, who can answer some of the most commonly asked questions about the vaccines.

Take a look:

1. When will I able to be vaccinated?

The short, probably unsatisfying answer is that it’s going to vary state-by-state. We are working to vaccinate as many Americans as possible as quickly as possible, moving every day to increase the available vaccine supply, increase the number of places where people can get vaccinated, and increase the number of people available to administer vaccines. Right now, only prioritized populations can receive the vaccine. Check the vaccine website in your state to see if you’re eligible. We purchased enough vaccine to have supply for every adult in the United States by the end of July, but the speed with which we can administer those vaccines will come down to how robust our vaccination program is. That’s why there’s another $20 billion for vaccine distribution in the American Rescue Plan.

– Jeff Zients, Coordinator, COVID-19 Response Team

2. Who’s actually paying for the vaccines? Do they cost anything?

I want to be very clear: no one can be denied a vaccine because they can’t afford it. That’s true now, and it will be later. Equity is one of the key planks of our COVID strategy — we want to prevent disparities based on race, gender or income, and making the vaccine free is key to that. Right now, vaccine providers can charge administration fees, which are usually paid for by your insurance. If you don’t have insurance, those fees are currently paid for by a special fund that is probably more technical than you’re interested in. The upshot is that someone pays for the fees, and it’s not you. However, the American Rescue Plan, if passed by Congress, has funds to ensure the vaccine is free for everyone — whether you have insurance or not.

– Andy Slavitt, Senior Advisor, COVID-19 Response Team

3. When I’m vaccinated, why can’t I stop wearing a mask? And is it safe to be around my elderly parents once they’re vaccinated?

Even if you’ve received both doses of vaccine, you need to continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing. While the vaccine is extremely effective at preventing you from getting sick from the disease, it is not yet clear that it’s effective at stopping transmission of the disease. What that means is that you might spread COVID-19, even after you’ve been vaccinated. So, it’s critical that you continue to wear a mask and social distance when in public or in your home with others that don’t live with you — even when you’re around others who have been vaccinated. We must all do our part to protect each other, and as the science matures and we learn more, we will provide information to the public on lessening requirements for people who have been fully vaccinated. For example, this past week, CDC issued new guidance that states people who have been fully vaccinated and meet certain criteria are no longer required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID-19.

– Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director, CDC

4. Why do some vaccines require one dose but others require two? Do they work the same?

Eight McCourters Selected For Prestigious Presidential Management Fellows Program

Written by president-joe-biden