President Joe Biden will announce Wednesday that the United States will order 100 million new doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Johnson & Johnson is expected to complete the order later this year as the pharmaceutical company revamps production.
This new order of vaccines is unlikely to expedite current vaccine supply, but rather will ensure that American has a continuous stockpile of vaccines later in 2021.
In a call to governors Tuesday, the White House announced that less than 400,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses would be available for distribution next week. The delay, however, did not change Biden’s announcement that America will have enough vaccine doses to immunize every adult by May.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 93,600,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given to Americans. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a briefing Tuesday that America’s seven-day-average for vaccine doses is 2.17 million per day, more than double since Biden took office in January.
