Vaccine Shipments to States Will Rise Along With J&J Burst

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. states will see a boost in shipments of Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. vaccines next week, on top of an initial burst of the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson shot.

President Joe Biden's administration will allocate 15.2 million Pfizer and Moderna doses for shipment next week to states, tribes and territories, up from 14.5 million a week earlier, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday after the administration held its regular call with governors.

The government also announced that 2.8 million J&J shots will be sent to states, marking the first time they've shown how they'll divide an initial tranche of the newly authorized one-dose shots. The J&J supply is expected to fall in the next week before ramping up toward the end of March.

The U.S. received an initial stockpile of 3.9 million J&J doses. About 820,000 J&J shots are being made available for pharmacies to order, an administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan.

The administration is also boosting its weekly allocation of Pfizer and Moderna shots for pharmacies to 2.4 million, from 2.1 million a week earlier, the official said. Psaki didn't specify pharmacy doses publicly. Combined with the doses set aside for states and other jurisdictions, the total Pfizer and Moderna allocations rose to 17.6 million from 16.6 million a week earlier.

The administration has previously said J&J is still ramping up production and that it won't have a new round of doses to ship this week. Psaki said that later in the day that Biden will detail a new deal with Merck to help J&J expand production of its vaccine.

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