Biden Targets Teacher Vaccinations as U.S. Expects COVID-19 Vaccines For All Adults By May

By Joshua Summers First Posted: Mar 02, 2021 10:39 PM EST

Biden Targets Teacher Vaccinations as U.S. Expects Enough COVID-19 Vaccines For All Adults By May — Photo : Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that there would be enough COVID-19 vaccines available for the American population by the end of May, following his previous commitment of enough vaccine supply by the end of July. Biden is also pushing for teachers and school staff's vaccination over the next month.

NPR reported that Biden's latest announcement of producing enough COVID-19 vaccines for each adult in the country by the end of May has moved up the timeline two months earlier, which is what he said just a few weeks ago.

Having enough vaccine supply was made possible by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) granting of emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 Vaccinations for Teachers and School Staff

According to NPR, Joe Biden called on states to prioritize teachers, school staff, and essential workers in the vaccination schedule to address a call for all grade-school employees and child care providers to be inoculated at least one shot by the end of the month.

In an interview with CBS News, a White House Official shared that the Biden administration coordinates with states across the country and expects their respective authorities to act quickly to implement the inoculation. The officials also said the White House has the power to direct the vaccine supply that the federal government provides to the states and be dispersed, rendering to their guidelines.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that Biden administration pushing the vaccinations for teachers or educators is great news for those who want in-school learning.

COVID-19 Vaccine Supply

Apart from the goal of inoculating educators and school staff, ABC News reported that Joe Biden also publicized the collaboration of pharmaceutical company Merck with their rival Johnson & Johnson in producing their one shot COVID-19 vaccine. Because of this, Biden noted that America is on-track with sufficing the vaccine supply for Americans by the end of May.

CBS News added that a senior administration official said Merck would provide two factories to filling and producing the vaccine from its competitor Johnson & Johnson. Because of their collaboration, there is a potential to significantly increase the vaccine supply, but it may take two months before Merck can start with their production.

ABC News furthered that officials noted that vaccination among Americans could extend into the summer as the production of the COVID-19 vaccines is heightened. Factors like the government's ability to deliver doses and the rest of the population's willingness to be inoculated will play a role in the vaccination crusade.

With the vaccine's uptick in production due to Johnsons & Johnson and Merck's collaboration, Biden is saying that there are already at least 30 states who prioritize teachers and school staff in the vaccination. However, he noted that he is still using the federal government's authority to give directives on all states and the district of Colombia to do the same.

Johnson & Johnson has started shipping out four million COVID-19 vaccines on Monday. The firm is targeting to deliver more than 20 million doses by the end of the month and 100 million on June.