Prognosis

U.S. Sees ‘Few Million’ Doses Once J&J Vaccine Arrives

  • Initial contract pledged 12 million doses by end of February
  • White House sees J&J deliveries back-end loaded to June
Photographer: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
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The U.S. government expects to initially receive only a “few million” doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine if it is authorized -- well short of what was initially promised -- and is working with the company to prepare to scale up production, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday.

Zients said the administration is planning for possible authorization of the vaccine -- which requires one dose -- and the contract would be for delivery of 100 million doses by the end of June. Those deliveries would be “back-end loaded,” he said.