Biden Announces An Increase In Weekly Vaccine Allocation

President Biden on Tuesday said states will receive a bigger allocation of COVID-19 vaccines for at least the next three weeks, hoping to demonstrate progress as governors plead for more doses.

Mr. Biden said the weekly allocation will grow from 8.6 million doses to 10 million, a 16% increase, based on its review of what manufacturers have available.

The doses are distributed on the basis of population to each of the states, plus eight territories and six metropolitan areas.

He also said his administration will give states a three-week “look ahead” at their anticipated supply, as opposed to one week, to help them plan.

“Lives are at stake here,” Mr. Biden said from the White House State Dining Room.

Additionally, he said the administration is in talks with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to purchase an additional 100 million doses from each vaccine maker, a development that would raise the supply from 400 million to 600 million — enough to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the "end of summer."

Mr. Biden’s team is procuring special syringes to draw an additional dose from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and looking to clear “bottlenecks” in the supply chain. But his plan to speed the vaccination effort through federal centers and pharmacy partnerships will likely depend on the addition of new vaccine makers.

“This is an aggregate plan that doesn’t leave anything on the table,” Mr. Biden said. “This is a wartime effort.”

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it plans to report the results of its 45,000-person vaccine trial by next week.

Its vaccine requires just one dose instead of two, so officials are hoping it is effective enough to win approval from regulators and speed the campaign.

Mr. Biden wants to allocate 100 million shots in his first 100 days.

Republicans have noted the U.S. was at or near that level of daily vaccination when former President Trump left the White House last week.

Mr. Biden said he is sticking to his goal but it is “not the endpoint, it’s just the start.” He recently said he’ll push for 1.5 million doses per day, a 50% increase.

Some experts say 3 million is needed to get 70% of the population inoculated by the late summer.

Mr. Biden says he’s working on it and deserves a little breathing room. In the meantime, he’s asking Americans to continue to wear masks.

“It’s going to take months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated,” Mr. Biden said. "Keep the faith, we're going to get this done."