Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
The U.S. has administered 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, a White House official said Friday.
Just under 40% of Americans had at least one dose, and about a quarter completed the one- and two-dose vaccinations. The news was announced on Twitter by Cyrus Shahpar, the data director of the White House, Covid-19.
The explosion of the vaccine has increased as supply has increased, and the U.S. is giving shots daily to about 1% of the population, according to the Bloomberg vaccine detection. It took the US 89 days to administer the first 100 million doses, a milestone reached on March 12. The second 100 million came in just 36 days.
President Joe Biden said his goal was to administer 200 million doses in the first 100 days of his administration. Because vaccination has begun under Donald Trump’s administration, it will need another 16.5 million doses to reach Biden’s point. That should happen next week for a while, about a week before Biden’s deadline.
It will be slightly more difficult to reach that target due to an interruption in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as health regulators is investigating reports of dangerous blood clots. It is not clear when the use of these shots will resume. A panel of expert advisers indicated it takes at least another week to study the issue.
The interruption of J & J’s vaccines will not have a major impact in the short term. The vast majority of doses distributed in the US are a survey made by Pfizer Inc. and his German partner BioNTech SE, and by Moderna Inc. But the single-dose J&J vaccine is important for the U.S. supply in the longer term, and the fact that it’s a single dose makes it easier to use, especially for populations that are more difficult to reach.
There are also signs that, although the government is making arrangements for the distribution of tens of millions of doses per week, supply begins to build up in certain places. A handful of states now have more than 30% of the doses not yet in use, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Some of the growing surplus could be an expected ineffectiveness, as vaccines are being sent to more places and many of the most enthusiastic people have been getting shots. But there are also signs in some places, such as Lynchburg, Virginia, that the appointment of vaccines is going to be incomplete, even though a lower than average portion of the local population has been vaccinated.