Delays could undercut vaccinations in areas lacking access to deep freezers needed for one of the other authorized COVID-19 vaccines
Johnson & Johnson is under pressure to deliver its promised 20 million vaccine doses by next week, as several state public health officials indicate they are receiving few or no shots this week and have no idea how much they’ll get later.
The uncertainty comes at a time when the demand for vaccines continues to overwhelm supply, a weary country braces for the spread of viral variants and hundreds of people die from COVID-19 each day. It raises questions about how successful the company was in meeting a central goal of the massive U.S. investment in vaccine development: to manufacture sufficient supplies of shots before they were proven effective in order to hit the ground running.
The delays could undercut vaccinations in rural and low-income areas without access to deep freezers needed for one of the two other authorized vaccines. Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot is helpful in those places since it’s durable for three months in the refrigerator. Continue reading.