The White House issued remarks made by President Biden on March 2, in which he reported on the Administration’s vaccination efforts.
In summary -
· The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. We should all be encouraged by this news of a third safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine. The more people who get vaccinated, the faster we’re going to overcome this virus and get back to our loved ones, get our economy back on track, and start to move back to normal.
· We’re halfway to the goal at 37 days, of 100 million vaccination shots administered in my first 100 days in office.
· Two of the largest healthcare and pharmaceutical companies in the world — that are usually competitors — are working together on the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson and Merck will work together to expand the production of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War Two.
· We also invoked the Defense Production Act to equip two Merck facilities to the standards necessary to safely manufacture the J&J vaccine. And with the urging and assistance of my administration, Johnson & Johnson is also taking additional new actions to safely accelerate vaccine production. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine manufacturing facilities will now begin to operate 24/7.
· In addition, we’ll continue to use the Defense Production Act to expedite critical materials in vaccine production, such as equipment, machinery, and supplies.
Here’s what all this means: We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.
But it’s not enough to have the vaccine supply. We need vaccinators — people to put the shots in people’s arms, millions of Americans’ arms. To date, we’ve brought back retired doctors and nurses. We’ve developed — we deployed more than 1,500 federal medical personnel you usually see during natural disasters, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — FEMA — and the Commissioned Health Corps at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Defense Department, including the National Guard, with thousands of more to come.
We’re also increasing the places where people can get vaccinated. We’ve sent millions of vaccines to over 7,000 pharmacies to make it easier for folks to get their COVID-19 vaccine shot like they would their flu shot.
The federal government is also working with states to set up hundreds of mass vaccination centers in places like stadiums, community centers, parking lots that vaccinate thousands of people per day. My wife Jill and I just visited one in Houston last week. And with this increased production of three safe and effective vaccines, we have an opportunity to help address the urgent national need more quickly and getting our schools back open safely.
Educational disparities that have always existed grow wider each day that our schools remain closed. And remote learning isn’t the same for every student, as you all know. Our educators are doing everything they can to protect and educate our students, despite the lack of resources and as districts face budget crises that risk education jobs.
