Federal officials are expecting a huge influx of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, providing an injection into the arm for delivery across the country as several states – including California – are preparing to make consultations more widely available to adults.
Some 11 million doses of Johnson & Johnson are expected to be delivered in the next week, a huge number compared to what has been sent so far, according to Jeff Zients, coordinator of task force COVID-19 of the president Biden.
“The company said it will deliver the 20 million [doses] by the end of March, ”he said during a press conference on Friday, referring to a goal of public production. “And, from our conversations with the company, they are on track to meet that goal with at least 11 million doses delivered next week.”
Once these doses are available to the federal government, he added, “we will, in turn, make them available for delivery to our state, local and federal partners.”
Johnson & Johnson, he noted, “is still in its early stages of manufacture” compared to the other vaccines available from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, “and will, over time, reach a more regular weekly cadence”.
It is unclear how many of these additional doses would flow to California, but any significant increase has the potential to greatly accelerate the vaccine’s release in the state.
While the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two doses – given three and four weeks apart, respectively – Johnson & Johnson involves only one.
Despite the vaccine’s promise, its administration has been delayed until now due to production problems.
As of Friday morning, 589,300 doses of Johnson & Johnson were delivered in California and 279,788 were administered, according to data from the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Across the country, just over 2.7 million people have been fully inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also known as Janssen.
California officials foreshadowed an increase in supplies on Thursday, announcing an imminent and dramatic expansion of the state’s vaccine eligibility.
Residents at least 50 years old can be vaccinated starting on Thursday, and all Californians aged 16 and over will be eligible from April 15.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the decision to open the door to widespread access was based on expected increases in the supply of vaccines – including doses of Johnson & Johnson.
“Our ability to do more has always been limited by supply, manufactured supply,” he said during a news conference in Santa Ana. “We are confident now that the manufactured supply will be available ahead of schedule.”
Recently, California received only about 1.8 million total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per week. But officials said the state expects to receive about 2.5 million doses a week in the first half of April – with that number rising to more than 3 million doses by the end of the month.
Even with shipments of this size, however, the authorities warn that it will probably take months to deliver a vaccine to every Californian he wants.
However, Newsom said that the short-term perspective on universal adult eligibility shows that “there is not only light at the end of the tunnel; there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel ”when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.
To date, providers across California have administered nearly 16 million doses in total, and 27.2% of residents have received at least one injection, according to data compiled by The Times.
In the last week, an average of 371,008 doses per day has been distributed across the state.
Receiving many more doses is one thing, but being able to handle them is another.
In a wide network of providers that includes local public health departments, pharmacies, healthcare consortia and other qualified health centers, California has now reached its goal of being able to administer 4 million doses per week, according to Blue Shield of California, which the state hired to administer its vaccine network.
“We can handle more than that, frankly,” Blue Shield President Paul Markovich said in an interview on Friday.
He said the capacity includes all suppliers who have signed contracts to be part of the vaccine chain across the state.
“There are another 3 million capacity that can be hired and incorporated,” he said. “So there is a lot of capacity to administer the vaccine.”
Until Friday, 20 municipalities agreed to be part of this state network, according to the press office of the state health department. And Markovich said “we are on the right track” for the remaining counties to sign.
Almost half of all Californians are already eligible for the vaccine. This includes adults aged 65 and over, health professionals, educators, people who are incarcerated or living in homeless shelters, essential workers such as those in the food industry or emergency services, public transport workers and caretakers, and residents aged 16 and over with certain underlying disabilities or health conditions.
Even with widespread eligibility just weeks away, some providers are moving faster than the state’s timeline.
Officials in the city of Long Beach, which has its own health department, opened the vaccine’s eligibility on Thursday to residents of the city at least 50 years of age.
Likewise, at least four California counties have already reduced the age limit to 50 and one to 45. Some counties have further expanded eligibility for health conditions beyond state specifications.
Times staff writers, Melody Gutierrez, Colleen Shalby and Laura J. Nelson, contributed to this report.