Feb. 12 (UPI) — President Joe Biden on Thursday said his administration secured deals for 200 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses.
During a visit to the National Institutes of Health Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory, Biden said the acquisition will give the United States a total of 600 million doses, enough to inoculate 300 million people by the end of July.
“Just this afternoon, we signed the final contracts for 100 million more Moderna and 100 million more Pfizer vaccines,” he said.
He said the two companies also reached an agreement to expedite the delivery of 100 million vaccine doses originally scheduled to arrive in June to be delivered in May.
Biden also announced that federally run community health centers will begin receiving vaccine doses. Last week, the administration said retail pharmacies will begin receiving direct shipments from the federal government Thursday.
National pharmacy chain Rite Aid announced it will begin administering vaccines on Friday in California, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as Philadelphia and New York City, which are designated as separate jurisdictions.
The company said it expects to receive 100 doses per participating store for a total of 116,300 doses.
To date 34.72 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 11.19 million have received two, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden has pledged to administer 1 million shots a day within his first 100 days in office for a total of 100 million vaccinations.
