US expects vaccine supply to be vaccinated despite J&J break

Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

The US expects that by May there will be enough coronavirus vaccine to meet demand, even with a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s shot – but a long halt would increase some of President Joe Biden’s goals and prolong the effort to vaccinate as many Americans as possible.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they would suspend the use of the J&J shot after six women who received it had a rare and severe form of blood clotting. developed. The FDA indicated that the break would last a few days.

The sidelines of J&J, however temporary, leave the U.S. with two other shots that have already made up the bulk of its vaccination campaign — from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. Vaccines from the two companies account for 95% of the shots fired this week in the US.

The White House said there is enough vaccine to continue at the current pace. “This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan,” White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said in a statement.

The supply of Pfizer and Moderna will be sufficient to meet US demand, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity as signs show the US is starting to move from a shortage of shots to a shortage of willing recipients .

The US expects to receive enough doses of Pfizer and Moderna by the end of May to fully vaccinate 200 million people. By the end of July, the company expects enough doses from the companies to vaccinate another 100 million.

However, any prolonged delay in the use of one shot may provoke the hesitation of the vaccine and call into question some of Biden’s offer promises. Biden’s team has repeatedly said all shots are safe and urged Americans to take the one they can.

Biden relied on J&J when he announced that the US would have enough shots for all adults by the end of May, a pledgee quoted regularly in recent weeks, but which Zients did not repeat in his statement on Tuesday.

Biden has also pledged to increase the fairness of vaccinations, which have so far gone excessively to whites in a pandemic that has excessively sickened or killed people of color. The J&J survey is widely used in pharmacies and community health centers, targeting communities that are at risk, although Pfizer and Moderna still make up the vast majority of the surveys in these programs.

The recording of J&J, which does not require the same cooling conditions as Moderna and Pfizer, can also apply the number of plots that apply the recording if the use is stopped for a long period. That would threaten Biden’s promise to make the vaccine available within 90 miles of 90% of Americans. Biden’s team stressed the importance of making vaccines easily accessible.