US: Biden administration to boost vaccine supply in states by 17% next week

President Joe Biden said during a news briefing that his administration plans to order 200 million more doses of vaccines

US states wringing their hands at empty cupboards left by the Trump administration will be getting a 17 per cent boost in Covid-19 vaccine supply next week.

Latest figures updated on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website Tuesday show that the Biden government plans to make about 10.1 million first and second doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available next week, up from this week's allotment of 8.6 million.

States have cancelled thousands of appointments over the last week because their supply ran out right around the time Joe Biden was inaugurated.

The Biden administration inherited multiple bottlenecks and shortages, although Pfizer and Moderna have committed an initial 100 million doses each. aceI can't tell you how much vaccine we have," incoming CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Fox News. "And if I cana¿t tell it to you, then I can't tell it to the governors, and I can't tell it to the state health officials."

Biden plans to update Americans on the country's vaccine stockpile Tuesday, press secretary Jen Psaki said. The White House is also bringing back Covid-19 briefings three times a week.

As of Tuesday, the federal government has distributed 44.3 million vaccine doses to states. Of that, 23 million doses, or over 52 percent have been administered. About 3.4 million people have received their full two-dose vaccination, and more than 19 million have got their first dose, according to data from the CDC.

The coronavirus has killed more than 421,000 Americans and infected more than 25 million since the first case was reported on January 21, 2020. Biden is hoping to get at least 100 million Americans vaccinated in the first 100 days of his government. He is holding out a sense of cautious optimism that any American who wants the vaccine could possibly get it "this Spring."

(Nikhila Natarajan can be reached at nikhilanatarajan@gmail.com)

--IANS

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