共和国总统乔·拜登周二下午，制药巨头默克公司和强生公司宣布建立重要的合作伙伴关系，以帮助生产J&J的新批准的疫苗并改变了疫苗的时间表，称到5月底每个美国成年人都有足够的疫苗。
“大约三周前，我们可以说，到7月底，我们将有足够的成人疫苗供应。今天，我很高兴地宣布，由于我刚才订购和概述的这一加速过程，这个国家将有足够的疫苗供应...到5月底，美国的每个成年人都将面临这一挑战。
他将两家公司的合作与美国在第二次世界大战期间的合作进行了比较，并表示强生公司的疫苗生产设施现在将开始全天候运行。
总统周二还宣布，他希望教师和学校工作人员“在3月底前”至少接受一次疫苗注射
虽然拜登不能要求各州优先考虑教师的疫苗供应，但拜登挑战他们这样做。为了帮助实现这一目标，拜登宣布，从下周开始，在3月份，他的政府将利用他们的联邦药房计划，通过12名教育工作者、工作人员和儿童保育工作者优先接种pre-k疫苗。
“现在我想非常清楚。不是每个教育工作者都能在第一周得到任命。但我们的目标是尽我们所能，帮助每个教育工作者在这个月，也就是三月接受一次注射，”他说。
尽管一些州，如德克萨斯州，周二宣布放宽限制，但拜登直言不讳地表示，前面的路还很长。
“这场战斗远未结束。我告诉过你，我会从一开始就和你坦诚相见。正如我多次说过的，随着新变体的传播和我们面临的挫折，情况可能会再次变得更糟，”他说。
吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图像
乔·拜登总统发表了关于政府应对大流行的讲话，包括最近的
“虽然我们庆祝第三种疫苗的消息，但我敦促所有美国人，请继续洗手。保持社交距离。戴口罩。继续穿。轮到你的时候打疫苗。现在不是放松的时候。我已经要求这个国家在我执政的头100天里戴上口罩。现在不是放松警惕的时候，”拜登继续说道。
当被问及事情何时会“恢复正常”时，总统说他希望“明年这个时候”，但补充说这取决于人们是否继续“聪明”。
美国食品和药物管理局批准周六J&J疫苗紧急使用授权，引发了周一390万剂疫苗的运输。其中，预计有80万人将直接去药店。第一针是在星期二注射的。
在8月份与联邦政府签署的一份价值10亿美元的合同中，J&J最初估计它可以在2月底运送1200万剂药物。
尽管最初的供应量很低，强生公司首席执行官亚历克斯·戈尔斯基(Alex Gorsky)表示，该公司预计到3月底将有2000万剂可用，到6月底将履行1亿剂的合同义务。他还表示，强生公司预计到今年年底将生产近10亿剂。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基周二早些时候表示，这种伙伴关系“应该”有助于美国人更快地获得镜头。
“这肯定会加快美国政府的努力，已经足够了疫苗普萨基告诉美国广播公司新闻高级白宫记者玛丽·布鲁斯。
dado Ruvic/路透社
文件照片:在显示屏前可以看到标有“新冠肺炎冠状病毒疫苗”的小瓶和注射器
默克公司表示，美国政府将向其提供2.688亿美元，用于“改造和利用一些现有的制造设施”，以生产疫苗和药物。
J&J证实了这一安排。
强生公司在一份声明中说:“我们将继续投资于合作，以便我们能够将我们的全部资源和最好的科学头脑用于抗击这一流行病。”
周六，J&J疫苗成为美国食品和药物管理局授权的第三种新冠肺炎疫苗，加入辉瑞和Moderna。然而，这些其他疫苗需要两剂才能完全免疫。J&J疫苗不仅是单剂量给药，而且更容易储存，只需要定期冷藏。
J&J疫苗与其竞争对手的不同之处还在于，在拉丁美洲和南非进行了临床试验，并针对不同的COVID-19变体进行了测试。
“大约40%的试验患者在拉丁美洲，”戈尔斯基周一在《早安美国》上说。“我们在南非还有大约15%。在南非，超过90%的患者感染了南非毒株。
戈尔斯基说，这种疫苗对住院和死亡是100%有效的。
蒂莫西·伊斯利/美联社
麦肯森公司的一名员工打包了一盒约翰逊和约翰逊COVID-19
拜登政府官员敦促美国人接种疫苗，以帮助控制冠状病毒大流行，并建议人们接种任何提供的疫苗。
“所有这些疫苗都是安全的。它们是有效的。它们已经得到了美国食品和药物管理局的批准。
该国领先的传染病专家，安东尼·福奇博士他还强调美国人应该服用任何提供给他们的疫苗，并说他也会这么做。
“我现在接种了疫苗，”他在美国广播公司的“本周”节目中说但是如果我没有接种疫苗，我要去一个诊所，他们说，‘嘿，我们现在有J&J，或者你可以等三个星期左右再去一个，’我会选择我现在可以得到的那个，因为你越快接种疫苗，你就越快得到保护，你就会增加你的国家的整体保护。"
Biden says there will be enough vaccine for American adults by end of May
PresidentJoe Bidenannounced a major partnership Tuesday afternoon between pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson to help produce J&J'snewly authorized vaccineand changed the vaccine timeline, saying there would be enough for every American adult by the end of May.
"About three weeks ago, we were able to say that we'll have enough vaccine supply for adults by the end of July, and I'm pleased to announce today, as a consequence of this stepped-up process that I've ordered and just outlined, this country will have enough vaccine supply ... for every adult in America by the end of May," Biden said.
He compared the two companies collaboration to what the U.S. saw during World War II and said that Johnson & Johnson's vaccine manufacturing facilities will now begin to operate 24/7.
The president also announced Tuesday that he wants teachers and school workers to receive at least one vaccine shot "by the end of March."
While Biden can't mandate that states prioritize teachers for their vaccine supplies, Biden is challenging them to do so. To help make this happen, Biden announced that starting next week and for the month of March, his administration will be using their federal pharmacy program to prioritize the vaccination of pre-k through 12 educators, staff and child care workers.
"Now I want to be very clear. Not every educator will be able to get their appointment in the first week. But our goal is to do everything we can to help every educator receive a shot this month, the month of March," he said.
While some states, like Texas, announced they are easing their restrictions Tuesday, Biden was blunt that there is still a long road ahead.
"This fight is far from over. I told you, I would be straight up with you from the very beginning. As I said many times, things may get worse again as new variants spread and as we face setbacks," he said.
"Though we celebrate the news of a third vaccine, I urge all Americans, please, keep washing your hands. Stay socially distanced. Wear masks. Keep wearing them. Get vaccinated when it's your turn. Now is not the time to let up. I've asked the country to wear masks for my first 100 days in office. Now is not the time to let our guard down," Biden continued.
Asked when things will "get back to normal," the president said he hopes "by this time next year," but added that it depends on if people continue to be "smart."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administrationapprovedan Emergency Use Authorization for the J&J vaccine Saturday, which triggered the shipment of 3.9 million doses of the vaccine on Monday. Of those, 800,000 are expected to go directly to pharmacies. The first shots were being administered Tuesday.
J&J had originally estimated it could ship 12 million doses at the end of February in a $1 billion contract signed with the federal government in August.
Despite the low initial availability, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said the company expects 20 million doses to be available by the end of March and to meet its contractual obligation for 100 million doses by the end of June. He also said Johnson & Johnson is expected to produce almost 1 billion doses by the end of the year.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier Tuesday that the partnership "should" help Americans get the shots sooner.
"It definitely will expedite the efforts of the United States government, having enoughvaccineson hand to vaccinate the American public," Psaki told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce.
Merck said the U.S. government was giving it $268.8 million "to adapt and make available a number of existing manufacturing facilities" for the production of the vaccines and medicines.
J&J confirmed the arrangement.
"We will continue to invest in collaborations so we can bring our full resources and best scientific minds to combat this pandemic," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement.
The J&J vaccine on Saturday became the third FDA authorized COVID-19 vaccine, joiningPfizerandModerna. However, those other vaccines require two doses for full immunization. The J&J vaccine is not only administered as a single dose but is also easier to store, only requiring regular refrigeration.
The J&J vaccine also differs from its competitors in that clinical trials were conducted in Latin America and South Africa and tested against different COVID-19 variants.
"About 40% of the patients in the trial were in Latin America," Gorsky said on Good Morning America on Monday. "We had about another 15% in South Africa. In South Africa over 90% of those patients were infected with the South African strain.
Gorsky said the vaccine is 100% effective against hospitalizations and deaths.
Biden administration officials are urging Americans to get vaccinated to help control the coronavirus pandemic and advising people to take any vaccine that is offered.
"All of these vaccines are safe. They are effective. They've been approved by the FDA," Psaki said on Monday.
The country's leading infectious-disease expert,Dr. Anthony Fauci, is also stressing that Americans should take whatever vaccine is provided to them, saying he would do the same.
"I'm vaccinated now," he said on ABC's "This Week." But if I were not vaccinated, and I was going to go into a clinic, and they said, 'hey, we have J&J now, or you can wait three weeks or so to get another one,' I would take the one that is available to me now, because the quicker you get vaccinated, the more quickly you will be protected, and you will add on to the overall protection in your county, in your country."
