PRESIDENT Joe Biden has announced there will be enough vaccine for every adult in America by the end of May.
He revealed America's current vaccine program will be accelerated by two months at a press conference at the White House.
Biden revealed that there will be enough vaccine supply for 300 million Americans in just over two months time.
He said: "About three months ago we were able to say that we would have enough Covid vaccine supply to vaccinate all adults by July.
"I'm pleased to announce today that, as a consequence of this stepped up process, this country will have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May."
The announcement comes as the White House looks to speed the production of the single-dose J&J vaccine and accelerate the nation’s plans to reach “herd immunity” in the U.S. and begin restoring normalcy after the pandemic.
Biden noted that vaccine supply was only one bottleneck toward that goal, and that the new challenge will be injecting doses into arms as swiftly as possible.
To that end, the Biden administration told governors Tuesday to prepare for their supplies of vaccine to continue to climb over the coming weeks.
Additional doses are also heading toward a federally backed program to administer doses in more accessible retail pharmacies.
Officials have said J&J faced unexpected production issues with its vaccine and produced only 3.9 million doses ahead of its receiving emergency use authorization on Saturday.
The company has promised to deliver 100 million doses by the end of June.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki also announced Tuesday that the federal government was increasing supply of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to states next week to 15.2 million doses per week, up from 14.5 million previously.
States will also receive 2.8 million doses of the J&J shot this week.
On a call with governors, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said states should prepare for administering 16-17 million total weekly doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the end of March, climbing to 17-18 million weekly by early April.
The supply of J&J doses to states, expected to dip after the initial shipment this week, will climb to 4-6 million weekly doses by the end of March and 5-6 million doses weekly through the end of April.
More than 800,000 doses of the J&J vaccine will also be distributed this week to pharmacies to administer in a separate federally-run program that also includes 2.4 million doses of the other two shots.
Both figures are expected to steadily increase, as the White House increasingly looks to the capacity of pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens to help speed the nation's mass vaccination campaign.
Facing questions about the company's slipping delivery schedule, J&J Vice President Richard Nettles told lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week that the company had faced “significant challenges” because of its “highly complex” manufacturing process.
The assistance from Merck was expected to help J&J meet its production commitments and expand supply even further, but the administration did not immediately provide specifics.
Psaki said that an "across the administration effort” was required to get the two historic rivals to work together on the vaccines, even though conversations between the two companies have been going on for months.
“There’s a difference between conversations and it moving forward,” she said.
It was not immediately clear when the effect of Merck's assistance would be reflected in supply.
Previously, federal officials have cautioned that setting up the highly specialized manufacturing lines to produce vaccines would take months.
The White House said Merck would devote two plants to the production process.
One would make the vaccine and the other would handle inserting the vaccine into vials and ensuring strict quality controls.
Psaki said the Biden administration was using its powers under the Defense Production Act to help Merck retool to work on the production.
The news was first reported by The Washington Post.
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