White House surprisingly announces Johnson & Johnson is on track to meet vaccine goal


The White House has announced that Johnson & Johnson is on track to meet its goal of delivering 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States by the end of the month, something officials were reportedly unsure would be achieved.
White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients during a briefing on Friday said that Johnson & Johnson will deliver at least 11 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to the government next week, Politico reports.
"We've done a lot to help J&J, we're monitoring that very closely, and we anticipate a significant increase at the end of this month, which will enable them to reach at least 20 million doses," Zients said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Johnson & Johnson had planned to deliver 20 million doses of its vaccine by the end of March after it received FDA approval. But CNN recently reported that Biden administration officials were "not confident" this goal would be met after the company "struggled to ramp up production."
The White House's announcement Friday was a surprise, then, with CNN's Kaitlan Collins noting that the goal had "been in doubt as of just a few days ago, given less than half the 20 million had gone out." Indeed, according to Politico, the administration on Tuesday said it only had four million doses of the vaccine to deliver. Unlike the other vaccines that have been approved in the U.S., Johnson & Johnson's comes with the key benefit of only requiring one dose.
The announcement came one day after President Biden announced he's setting a new goal of getting 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered during his first 100 days in office, double his previous goal of 100 million doses, which was met weeks early. The U.S. is on track to meet this new goal.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the right
Speed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shot
Speed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreak
Speed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agency
Speed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year high
Speed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kids
Speed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials