Health Highlights: Jan. 27, 2021
By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter
U.S. Government to Increase Vaccine Deliveries to States
In response to COVID-19 vaccine shortages, the U.S. government will increase vaccine deliveries to states by 16% over the next three weeks and plans to have enough to vaccinate 300 million people by the end of summer or early fall, President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
The administration is working to buy an additional 100 million doses of each of the two approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as part of what Biden called a "wartime effort," the Associated Press reported.
Vaccines shortages have forced some vaccination sites across the country to cancel tens of thousands of appointments.
"This is unacceptable," Biden said Tuesday. "Lives are at stake."
His administration plans to make about 10.1 million first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available next week, up from this week's allotment of 8.6 million, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the AP reported.
U.S. vaccine supplies could also get a boost if a single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson receives emergency authorization in the coming weeks.
The U.S. ranks fifth in the world in the number of doses administered relative to the country's population, behind Israel, United Arab Emirates, Britain and Bahrain, according to the University of Oxford, the AP reported.
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