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U.S. President Joe Biden has urged states to offer shots to all
adults in May and said there will be enough doses for every
adult who wants a shot by the end of that month. Jeff Zients,
the White House's COVID-19 response coordinator, said the
administration has delivered 1 million shots to community
vaccination sites across the country, around 60% of which have
been given to ethnic and racial minorities. "The federal
pharmacy program... has allowed millions of Americans to get a
shot in a local pharmacy, the same way they get their flu shot,"
Zients said on a Friday press call.The United States has shipped
out more than 150 million shots and dosed nearly 120 million
people, according to federal data.Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc
and Moderna Inc expect to deliver together 240 million COVID-19
shots to the United States by the end of March, and 800 million
by mid-summer. The Biden administration has urged states to make
a push to get all teachers and childcare workers vaccinated by
the end of March to assist with safe public school reopenings.
Zients said that U.S. regulators are expected to take action on
AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 shot in the next several weeks.The
White House plans to loan 4 million AstraZeneca shots that have
already been produced in the United States to Canada and Mexico,
Zients said, adding that the loan will not interfere with
promised deliveries to Americans. Reuters first reported the
plans on Thursday. The British drugmaker said it expects to have
30 million shots ready to be shipped around the United States by
the beginning of April.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora
Ellis)
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