By Shannon Pettypiece - NBC News
The United States will purchase an additional 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, a move that could provide enough doses for nearly all citizens to be immunized by the end of August, President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
The 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine and another 100 million from Moderna's will be available by the summer, adding to the 400 million that both drug companies have already pledged to provide to the United States, said Biden, who hopes to confirm. buy it soon.
"It will be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans and defeat the pandemic," he said.
The purchase agreement with these two pharmaceutical companies
will reduce the country's dependence on obtaining additional vaccines from other manufacturers.
The Administration led by Donald Trump had stopped buying more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and was instead waiting for other vaccines from companies like Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, which do not yet have their products on the market.
Johnson & Johnson said it will release data on its vaccine, which only requires one dose, in the coming days.
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“We cannot speak to the Trump Administration, but what we can say is that our philosophy, given the nature of this emergency and the speed with which the virus must be addressed, is to get enough supply, as we need to vaccinate Americans. and give them the confidence that we can do it, "said a Biden Administration official.
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In the short term, the supply of vaccines shipped to states will increase by 20% (to 10 million doses per week) over the next three weeks, the official said.
The government will also begin informing states of how many doses they will receive at least three weeks in advance, to address complaints from some governors that they have made it difficult to plan and schedule appointments.
“Until now we had to guess how many vaccines we would have next week.
This is unacceptable, ”Biden said Tuesday.
His Administration has enacted the Defense Production Law to buy more syringes than can extract more doses per vaccine vial, and he plans to
use this wartime law to obtain other raw materials
, such as lipid nanoparticles and disposable bioreactors, if necessary, the official said.
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However, the supply chain for these relatively scarce materials is already "somewhat fragile" and there is a risk of disrupting the production of other medical devices, according to the official.
The United States also has to compete with other countries for the same resources that are in short supply amid the pandemic.
The official said the Biden Administration is not withholding doses, other than a small emergency reserve, but states have been withholding some of those they do receive, to ensure there are enough available for people to receive their second injection.
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State and local officials have been complaining in recent weeks that while they have the capacity to administer more vaccines and there is high demand from the public, they lack sufficient supplies.
For example, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told MSNBC on Tuesday that the city has the capacity to administer 500,000 doses per week, but they have not been able to do so because they are waiting for more vaccines from the government.
As of January 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that
23.5 million doses
have been administered in the United States
and some 3.4 million people were fully vaccinated.
