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Pres. Joe Biden Say U.S. Will Be Able To Vaccinate All Adults By End Of May

WASHINGTON (AP/KDKA) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated, as his administration announced that drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson's newly approved shot.

The announcement comes as the White House looks to speed the production of the single-dose J&J vaccine and accelerate the nation's plans to reach "herd immunity" in the U.S. and begin restoring normalcy after the pandemic. Biden noted that vaccine supply was only one bottleneck toward that goal, and that the new challenge will be injecting doses into arms as swiftly as possible.

To that end, the Biden administration told governors Tuesday to prepare for their supplies of vaccine to continue to climb over the coming weeks. Additional doses are also heading toward a federally backed program to administer doses in more accessible retail pharmacies.

Officials have said J&J faced unexpected production issues with its vaccine and produced only 3.9 million doses ahead of its receiving emergency use authorization on Saturday. The company has promised to deliver 100 million doses by the end of June.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also announced Tuesday that the federal government was increasing supply of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to states next week to 15.2 million doses per week, up from 14.5 million previously. States will also receive 2.8 million doses of the J&J shot this week.

On a call with governors Tuesday, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said states should prepare for administering 16-17 million total weekly doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the end of March, climbing to 17-18 million weekly by early April. The supply of J&J doses to states, expected to dip after the initial shipment this week, will climb to 4-6 million weekly doses by the end of March and 5-6 million doses weekly through the end of April.

More than 800,000 doses of the J&J vaccine will also be distributed this week to pharmacies to administer in a separate federally-run program that also includes 2.4 million doses of the other two shots. Both figures are expected to steadily increase, as the White House increasingly looks to the capacity of pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens to help speed the nation's mass vaccination campaign.

Before the president's announcement on Tuesday, Pennsylvania state Rep. Timothy O'Neal said Monday that teachers could soon be moving to the front of the line to get the coronavirus vaccine.

In an email announcement to colleagues, Rep. O'Neal said that teachers will be moved into the Phase 1A tier of the vaccine rollout.

Rep. O'Neal, of Washington County, is a member of Pennsylvania's Coronavirus Taskforce.

According to Rep. O'Neal, teachers will get priority access to the state's initial shipment of 94,000 doses of the newly-approved, one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Rep. O'Neal says teachers must guarantee that they will return to the classroom after getting it.

WATCH: KDKA's Meghan Schiller reports

O'Neal says Gov. Tom Wolf will soon announce clinics, run by PEMA (Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency) and the National Guard, to get teachers vaccinated.

The Governor's Office won't confirm the plan, saying it remains under discussion, but sources indicate Wolf will likely announce some version of it on Wednesday and it has broad bipartisan support.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

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