WASHINGTON, D.C. — States will receive about 14.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine this week, marking a nearly 70% increase in distribution of doses over the last month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Limited supply of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines has hampered the pace of vaccinations – and that was before extreme winter weather delayed the delivery of about 6 million doses this past week.
The number of doses states will receive will increase from the 8.6 million a week they received during Biden’s first week in office. Last week, the White House announced that states would receive 13.5 million doses of the vaccine.
The White House announced last week that it’s in the process of doubling to 2 million the number of doses sent directly to pharmacies. Psaki also noted White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients told governors on Tuesday that pharmacies will see an increase in allocation by about 100,000 doses this week.
President Joe Biden has said that every American who wants a vaccination can get one by the end of July.
“Thanks to the president’s efforts, we are also on track to have enough vaccines for 300 million Americans by the end of July and we continue to encourage Americans to mask up, respect social distancing and abide by the public health guidelines,” said Psaki during her briefing Tuesday.
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Also on Tuesday, the White House announced that Biden will visit Texas on Friday as the state begins its recovery from the devastating winter storm that caused damage to homes and businesses and left millions without power or clean water for days.
The administration says Biden and his wife, Jill, will travel to Houston, where he’ll meet with local leaders to discuss the ongoing recovery from last week’s winter storm. He’ll also visit a COVID-19 health center where vaccines are being distributed.
Millions of Texas residents remain under boil water notices after the freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall caused power outages and burst pipes across the state.