Biden Administration Expected To Buy 200 Million More Doses Of COVID Vaccine

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By Nikki Slusher

President Joe Biden has announced plans for his administration to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The president’s pronouncement marks a noticeable increase in vaccination efforts for the pandemic compared to any previously seen since it began. Federal officials have been working with both Moderna and Pfizer to negotiate arrangements that are expected to expand the nation’s total vaccine capacity to 600 million.

The enhanced vaccine ability will allow up to 300 million Americans to receive both doses but would not be available until sometime this summer. Meanwhile, the White House is working expeditiously to send larger amounts of the existing vaccine to state and local municipalities each week as it struggles with addressing complaints of national supply shortages due to the Trump Administration’s falsehood that reserve doses ended up not existing as they had promised.

Currently, the administration’s goal is to provide at least 10 million doses per week across all 50 states and territories, providing a roughly estimated 16 percent increase. One of the administration’s senior officials noted that “it is a critical step to get the much-needed vaccine on the ground and get millions of Americans vaccinated soon.” Officials have also stated they will be providing estimates of how much of the vaccine states and local jurisdictions will receive for up to three weeks in advance.

According to date from the Centers for Disease Control, over 41 million shots have been distributed thus far. Nearly half of these have still yet to be administered. A White House official insisted that the federal government is only reserving a small portion of the vaccine while a vast majority of the unused doses are being distributed. On Monday, President Biden announced that he anticipated that by spring the vaccine would be available for anyone who wants it. His top aides, however, have warned that it will most likely take until the late summer or fall until the United States reaches an effective level of herd immunity to drastically minimize the virus.

Pfizer and Moderna have already pledged the 200 million doses of their vaccine to be ready by March, and Johnson & Johnson will be reporting its vaccine trial data by next week. If successful, it would be the arrival of a third vaccine option that requires only a single shot instead of a two-dose regimen as needed for Pfizer and Moderna’s. Johnson & Johnson’s production schedule has fallen behind, and the company warned that it will not be caught up until at least the end of April or possibly even later.

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