The Biden administration struck deals to purchase another 100 million doses each of the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus shots on Thursday, increasing the U.S. vaccine supply by 50%.
“That means lives will be saved,” President Biden said at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “That means we’re now on track to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July.”
Biden had previously announced at the end of January that his administration would buy additional doses.
“These purchases will allow us to accelerate our vaccination efforts to get shots into the arms of the American people,” said Norris Cochran, acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Biden did not offer a timeline for deliveries to hospitals and vaccination centers where people who are eligible, depending on each state’s rollout plan, to get the shots. Most states have already used up at least 70% of their vaccine supply, with some cities announcing they have used up nearly all of their available doses. For instance, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that five vaccination sites in the city, including Dodger Stadium, will close temporarily on Friday and remain closed at least through Saturday, having used up 98% of the city’s vaccine supply.
The Biden administration also announced on Tuesday that it would begin shipping available doses to federally qualified health centers across the United States to target low-income people in medically underserved rural and urban areas.
Biden said Thursday that he was confident that his administration would exceed its goal of immunizing 100 million people within his first 100 days in office. About 46 million people in the U.S. have received at least one of two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, according to tracking from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, more people have now received one dose of the vaccine than have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.
