The Biden administration plans to increase its COVID-19 vaccine shipments to states and tribes from 8.6 million doses per week to 10 million for at least the next three weeks, as part of an effort to vaccinate the majority of the U.S. population by the end of this summer.
Why it matters: Hospitals in states across the U.S. say they are running out of vaccines and the country's death toll is sharply rising.
- Moderna and Pfizer have both said their vaccines are effective against the new coronavirus strain first identified in the United Kingdom, which has spread more rapidly and been detected in at least 12 states.
- Moderna says its vaccine is also effective against the new strain that first appeared in South Africa.
Details: The Biden administration says it plans to buy 100 million additional doses each of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, and aims to vaccinate 300 million Americans by this summer.
- The Department of Health and Human Services will be instructed to give states a three-week estimate of incoming vaccine supply, instead of a one-week outlook.
