US administering 1.3m vaccines per day as Covid cases and hospitalisations decline: ‘We’re on track’
The United States has administered an average of 1.3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses per day in the last week, as cases and hospitalisations continue to decline across the country.
“We are on track to meet the president’s goal of 100 million shots in 100 days,” said Jeffrey Zients, Joe Biden’s coronavirus czar, during the White House Covid response team’s press briefing on Wednesday.
The average of 1.3 million vaccine doses administered per day was recorded from 27 January to 2 February, Mr Zients said.
Since taking office two weeks ago, the Biden administration has prioritised distributing and administering vaccines at a faster rate at a time when more Covid-19 variants are spreading through the world.
This initiative included purchasing an additional 200 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna, which will be delivered by the summer months, and sending a larger supply of vaccines to states. Starting this week, the federal government sent out 10.5 million doses to states compared to the about 8.6 million being sent out.
Mr Zients said the administration was now looking at “establishing community vaccination centres” to better reach population groups across the country. Thus far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent $1.7bn to 27 states, tribes, and localities to bolster these community vaccination centres, as well as provide funding for transporting and storing Covid-19 equipment for vaccines and other safety measures.
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