Wisconsin to receive 47,000 doses of J&J vaccine next week
Wisconsin will receive 47,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine next week, state health officials said Monday.
The single-dose product is expected to expand availability and access to vaccines in underserved communities, since it doesn't require a booster shot like Pfizer and Moderna and it can be kept in a refrigerator for up to three months.
Like Moderna's vaccine, doses will be shipped directly to providers — reaching rural areas more easily.
In contrast, Pfizer doses are kept in ultra-cold storage at hubs around the state and delivered to vaccination clinics, where they are stable in a refrigerator for five days. Moderna doses can be kept for 30 days.
“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is going to be a game changer for our statewide response to COVID-19,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
The 47,000 doses arriving next week will be incorporated into the state's allocation plan, according to the Department of Health Services.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Saturday and began distributing doses Sunday. The company said it expects to ship nearly 4 million doses to states this week, with about 16 million additional doses by the end of the month. It promises 100 million doses by the end of June.
The bump in supply comes as Wisconsin's vaccine rollout ramps up. Providers last week administered the most doses yet: More than 233,000 doses of vaccine were administered Feb. 21-28, according to preliminary data from DHS.
The number of doses given last week is likely to rise in the coming days as providers finish entering recent shots into the statewide immunization registry.
With a larger supply from the federal government, last week outpaced the two prior weeks, with about 200,000 doses each. It also surpasses the previous weekly record of about 218,000, set the first week of February.
Separate from a boost in Wisconsin's allocation, Walgreens locations in the state received about 35,000 doses last week as part of a new federal program.
As of Monday, 54% of people 65 and older in Wisconsin had received at least one dose of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines — and 22.6% had received both doses, protecting them from severe infection.
Having reached the halfway point for people 65 and older, the state took a step forward Monday to open eligibility to more groups, including teachers and child care staff and some essential workers.
Those who were already eligible for the vaccine will remain eligible, and state health officials have said providers should continue to prioritize people 65 and older.
The state on Monday reported no new COVID-19 deaths for the second day in a row. Sundays and Mondays tend to have the lowest reported death tolls of the week, since weekends delay public health workers' data entry.
The seven-day death average smooths out these anomalies and provides a more accurate picture of trends. On Monday, the average daily death toll was 18. That's slightly up from a recent low of 12, recorded Feb. 17, but down from a peak in January of 46.
And after declining for several weeks, the seven-day case average has remained steady for several days, hovering between 600 and 640 since Feb. 19.
New cases reported: 308
New deaths reported: 0
Number hospitalized: 287 (intensive care: 73); down 399 patients from one month ago
Seven-day average of daily cases: 610 (down 711 cases from one month ago)
Seven-day average of daily deaths: 18 (down 10 from one month ago)
Seven-day average positivity rate — as a share of all tests given: 2.2%
Total cases since the start of pandemic: 564,268 (7,417 active cases)
Total deaths: 6,412
Vaccines
Total doses administered: 1,436,450 Doses administered Saturday and Sunday: 35,778
Wisconsin residents with at least one dose: 912,429 (15.7% of the population)
Residents with both doses: 492,774 (8.5% of the population)
Residents 65 and older with at least one dose: 553,759 (54.4% of 65+ population)
Variant cases in the U.S. quintuple
Over February, known coronavirus variant cases in the U.S. quintupled from 471 to 2,463 even as total coronavirus cases were dropping from a peak in January.
The U.S. reported 306 new coronavirus variant cases Sunday, a record increase for viruses that can spread more easily, dodge some treatments and immunities, or both.
Nearly all the new cases were in three states: Florida, up 104 cases to 605; Michigan, up 85 cases to 421; and Texas, up 41 cases to 102.
Most cases – new and existing – are of B.1.1.7, a variant first seen in the United Kingdom that the CDC says could become America's predominant version in March.
Wisconsin has identified seven total variant cases, all of the U.K. variant, according to a CDC tracker.
Wisconsin updates its variant count once a week on Thursdays. On Monday, the state's tracker reported a total of six cases.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
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