The United States is set to see a substantial boost in Covid-19 vaccines shipped out and ready to administer in the coming weeks. Executives from Pfizer and Moderna told Congress on Tuesday the drugmakers are preparing to nearly double their current output. And on Wednesday, Food and Drug Administration staff endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, clearing the path for an emergency use authorization as soon as this week. A J&J executive said once the drug is authorized, the company would be ready to ship more than 20 million doses by the end of March.
The U.S. is recording at least 71,500 new Covid-19 cases and at least 2,030 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 112.2 million
- Global deaths: At least 2.48 million
- U.S. cases: More than 28.26 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 502,856