President Biden announced that a new partnership between competing pharmaceutical companies means the United States will have enough COVID-19 vaccine stock for every adult by the end of May.
In a White House address, he also said he wanted every school worker and educator to receive at least one shot by the end of March — part of a union-friendly push to reopen schools.
Officials earlier confirmed that pharmaceutical giant Merck had agreed a deal with rival Johnson & Johnson to produce its recently approved vaccine.
“This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II,” he said.
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Unexpected production issues had meant that Johnson & Johnson was only able to produce 3.9 million doses before receiving emergency use authorization on Saturday.
Biden said his administration was using the wartime powers of the Defense Production Act to equip two Merck facilities to manufacture the one-dose J&J vaccine safely.
“Here’s what all this means: We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” he said.
That deadline is two months earlier than previous time lines.
But Biden cautioned that producing enough vaccine is not the end of the story.
“We need vaccinators, people to put the shots in people’s arms … millions of American arms,” he said.
Teachers should go to the front of the line, said Biden, outlining a push to treat educators as essential workers.
“This is a national imperative,” he said, “that we get our kids back into the classroom safely and as soon as possible.”
He said a federal pharmacy program would prioritize educators in pre-K through to the 12th grade.
“We want every educator, school staff member, [and] child care worker to receive at least one shot by the end of the month of March,” he said.
The issue was an early thorn in the side of his administration. With parents pushing to reopen schools rapidly, Biden’s team had to balance demands from allies in the unions for teachers to be vaccinated first.
The result has been a compromise, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines saying that vaccination was not necessary for schools to reopen while the White House has pushed teachers to the front of the line.
As ever, Biden’s good news was tempered with a reminder that people should continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
After ending his address, he was asked when the country would get back to normal.
“I’ve been cautioned not to give an answer to that because we don’t know for sure,” he said. “But my hope is by this time next year, we’re going to be back to normal, and before that … my hope.”
Dr. Irwin Redlener, a senior research scholar for Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, said the tie-up between Merck and J&J would rapidly accelerate vaccine distribution.
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“They are not just rivals; they are fierce rivals. This is a really big deal,” he said. “I think it shows that people are increasingly on board across sectors, including the private sector, to get this pandemic under control.”
