I don't think the article is saying that they were surprised they had nothing to work with.

This is a short article so this is all the detail we have

Vaccine coordinator Bechara Choucair told reporters on Wednesday evening that the administration would create “community vaccination centers” run by federal officials as part of its goal to get Americans injected as quickly as possible.

The Biden team is aiming to reach 100 million injections within the first 100 days of the new presidency.

Additionally, the administration plans to issue federal guidelines to states on vaccine distribution.

Hopefully these plans are at the 70% thought out level