The Biden administration on April 16 said it will invest $1.7 billion to help states and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fight Covid-19 variants that are rapidly spreading across the United States.
The United States is preparing for the possibility that a booster shot will be needed between nine to 12 months after people are initially vaccinated against Covid-19, a White House official said on April 15.
The pause of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine will not slow U.S. vaccination efforts, the White House COVID-19 coordinator said on April 13, adding that officials were working to reschedule people with other shots made by Pfizer and Moderna.
The White House said on April 12 that it was prepared to send additional therapeutic treatments to the state of Michigan, which is experiencing a worrying number of Covid-19 cases, but declined to promise more vaccine as the state has sought.
The United States delivered about 3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses per day on average over the past week, up 8% over the previous 7-day average, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said on April 7.
The U.S. government hit the accelerator on shipments of Covid-19 vaccines after a month of largely stagnant weekly deliveries, giving states the doses they say they need to finish vaccinating priority groups and open shots to all adults in the coming weeks.
The U.S. government will distribute 11 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot next week as the company continues to ramp up vaccine production to support the White House’s effort to get 200 million shots in arms in the first 100 days of President Biden’s term, a White House official said on March 26.
The White House said on March 3 that President Joe Biden hoped Americans would continue to follow coronavirus guidelines such as mask-wearing even as some states, including Texas, lift their restrictions amid the ongoing pandemic.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Feb. 26 that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases may be stalling, a development she described as concerning while urging that safeguards to fight the virus remain in place.
The United States expects to roll out 3 to 4 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine during the first week of March, pending authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Feb. 24.
