US doubling its purchase of J&J vaccines
The Biden administration is arranging to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine – enough when added to vaccines from other sources to provide the nation with sufficient doses to serve every American, the White House said Wednesday.
The actions come as states continue to ease pandemic restrictions – Texas has dropped them all, becoming open “100%,” Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response, announced the J&J purchase plan hours before President Joe Biden was expected to outline details in a meeting with executives from the company and Merck, the pharmaceutical giant tasked with helping J&J make its newly approved single-dose vaccine.
“This is wartime,” Slavitt said of the purchase. “It gives us maximum flexibility for our upcoming needs.”
The president said this month the U.S. was on track to produce enough vaccine doses for every American adult by the end of May, after the Food and Drug Administration cleared Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
The drugmaker had pledged to produce 100 million doses for the U.S. by the end of June. The time frame for when the additional 100 million doses would be ready is unclear. The Johnson & Johnson doses come in addition to the 200 million doses Pfizer and Moderna pledged to deliver by late May of their two-shot vaccines, putting the country well over the total supply needed to vaccinate those eligible for the vaccine in the United States.
Biden and White House officials have cautioned that having enough supply does not mean that every American will be vaccinated, stressing that logistics and reluctancy to the vaccines are hurdles to getting shots into people’s arms.
Other top headlines
● The White House said it increased the number of vaccine doses supplied to states and territories from 15.2 million last week to 15.8 million this week, and it boosted to 2.7 million the allotment distributed through the federal pharmacy plan.
● The U.S. has over 29 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 527,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 117.8 million cases and 2.6 million deaths. More than 127.8 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 95.7 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
● The pandemic appears to be easing in North America, with U.S., Canada and Mexico continuing to report a drop in new infections, the Pan American Health Organization reported. Brazil, however, is battling rising infections and last week had its deadliest day, with almost 2,000 fatalities reported, the agency said.
● In California, Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith said that his county won’t participate in a state vaccine delivery program administered by insurer Blue Shield. Smith says it would not improve speed or efficiency. Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped the insurance company to create uniform rules and increase the rate of vaccinations, especially in hard-hit communities, through a centralized online portal.