Next Week, US Is Ready To Distribute 11 Million Doses Of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine

JAKARTA - The United States government plans to distribute 11 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine next week, as part of a program of 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the first 100 days of President Joe Biden's administration.

Johnson & Johnson plans to deliver 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this March. Deliveries have been delayed, however, because United States manufacturing partners, including Catelent Inc., have not received permission to ship vaccines made at their facilities.

"The United States is still on track to achieve its goal of making a vaccine available to all adults by the end of May," White House's COVID-19 Management Coordinator Jeff Zients told Reuters.

"The White House is also working to speed up vaccination administration by increasing the number of active troops involved, from an initial 2,900 to more than 6,000," Zients continued.

Zients added that 71 percent of adults over the age of 65 had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Separately, the Head of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States said he was concerned about the spike in COVID-19 cases in Uncle Sam's country. The number of daily cases averaged over the past week increased by 7 percent compared to last week, to 57,000 daily cases.

"We know from a higher spike that if we don't control the current situation. There is real potential for the epidemic curve to jump again," he concluded.