President Joe Biden says the US expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated.
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Drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson's newly approved shot, he said on Tuesday.
With the bolstered supply, Biden also announced he would be using the powers of the federal government to direct all states to prioritise vaccinating teachers.
He said Washington would provide the doses directly and challenged states to administer at least one dose of the vaccine to all teachers by the end of March as part of his administration's efforts to re-open more schools.
"We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May," Biden said.
He likened the partnership between the two drug companies involved to the spirit of national co-operation during World War II.
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" 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 on Tuesday to prepare for vaccine supplies to continue to climb over coming weeks.
Additional doses are also heading toward a federally-backed program to administer doses in more accessible retail pharmacies.
Those pharmacies will be key in getting the vaccines into the arms of teachers, which will help re-open schools to better educate students at risk of falling behind during the pandemic.
"Let's treat in-person learning as the essential service that it is," Biden said.
Biden had originally suggested the supply would be enough to vaccinate every adult American by the end of July.
But despite the good news, he was leery of predicting when the nation would return to normal.
He said, "My hope is by this time next year we're going to be back to normal," adding that he maybe it could come sooner.
Officials say J&J has faced unexpected production issues with its vaccine and produced only 3.9 million doses ahead of its receiving emergency use authorisation 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 Tuesday, White House coronavirus co-ordinator 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.
Australian Associated Press
