The Biden administration is increasing the number of doses of Covid-19 vaccine delivered weekly to states, sending 13.5 million doses this week and doubling the number of ads to retail pharmacies, the press secretary said Tuesday of the White House, Jen Psaki.
Since last week, the administration has been sending 11 million doses to states every week. Overall, Psaki noted, the administration has increased the number of doses delivered weekly to states by 57 percent since President Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Psaki also announced that the White House is doubling the number of doses shipped directly to retail pharmacies across the country, expanding them from the million doses shipped to 6,500 pharmacies last week. Psaki said the White House will ship 2 million doses a week to stores in the future and plans to expand to 40,000 stores nationwide.
“This program will expand access to neighborhoods across the country so people can call and make an appointment and get their chance conveniently and quickly,” he said. “This is a key part of our plan.”
The administration has announced gradual increases in the number of vaccines that are distributed each week and opens new distribution channels, such as pharmacies, community health centers and federally administered vaccination centers. Following an earlier-than-expected initial release of the vaccine, many states say the federal government’s lack of supply is the main limitation.
Vaccination rates across the country have increased in recent weeks and the gap between distributed and administered doses has narrowed. More than 52.8 million doses have been administered since Sunday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 70 million doses delivered to states.
Biden announced last week that the United States got 100 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 100 million more of the Modern vaccine, increasing the total U.S. supply to 600 million doses. The Food and Drug Administration is also expected to authorize the single-shot Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use as early as later this month.
It’s unlikely to be an immediate benefit, but it will help increase the number of doses available to Americans in late spring and summer. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a White House health adviser, said Tuesday that by May the vaccine could be available to any American who wants it, a little later than his previous plan to open access to the vaccine in April.
“It can take until June, July and August to end up vaccinating everyone,” he said he told CNN. “So when you hear about how long it will take us to vaccinate the overwhelming proportion of the population, I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that it will be fine by the end of summer and that we are entering early fall.”