President Joe Biden is paddling to announce that states must make all their adults eligible to receive the vaccine by April 19, two weeks earlier than scheduled.
BY APRIL 19, ALL ADULTS MUST BE ELIGIBLE
Biden will make the announcement Tuesday after a visit to a vaccination center in Virginia.
Biden’s announcement comes as states are gradually expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults, although large cities have protocols of their own.
Only Oregon and Hawaii have not announced their plans to have the vaccine available to all adults by April 19.
The new date at the federal level is earlier than the one initially announced, May 1.
Biden had announced last week that the United States expects to have enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months ahead of schedule.
Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday that trials suggest their vaccine is effective against a variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in South Africa, which some experts fear could evade existing vaccines.
And he lobbied states to administer at least one dose to teachers before the end of March to speed up the reopening of schools.
Biden also announced that drug company Merck & Co. will help produce the vaccine developed by rival Johnson & Johnson, and likened this action to the spirit of national cooperation during World War II.
“We are now on track to have a sufficient supply of vaccines for every adult in America by the end of May,” Biden said.
A doctor emphasizes the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine in children.
Despite the acceleration in vaccine production, the task of inoculating Americans could drag on until mid-summer, authorities reported, depending on both the government’s ability to distribute the vaccines and the population’s willingness to inoculate.
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