The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will be available any day now.
The company recently announced its one-dose vaccine will be good for distribution by the end of the week. The CEO of the massive corporation said on Monday that 3.9 million doses will go out before the end of the week, per The Hill.
The company plans to dish out a massive vaccine amount this week but has no plans for next week. Its goal is to have 20 million doses out by the end of March and 100 million by June.
Per trials, the J&J vaccine claims to have an 100 percent effectiveness in regards to hospitalizations and deaths in comparison to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine which has 66 percent. The J&J vaccine was also tested when new variants were surfacing.
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Production delays have contributed to the slow rollout. But in regards to the delay, J&J CEO Alex Gorsky had an answer.
“Let’s remember, this started literally as a genetic code information that was passed on in email 12 months ago,” said the CEO while on NBC’s Today.
“Since then, we’ve been able to do extensive clinical trials involving up to 50,000 patients,” said Gorsky. “Trial sites around the world. I really can’t think of another time in our history where we’ve been able to ramp up at this kind of pace.”
He added that Americans would start receiving the treatment within days.
“We think, literally, within the next 24 to 48 hours, Americans should start receiving shots in arms,” said Gorsky. “They’re literally rolling out with the trucks as we speak.”
As previously reported by theGrio, those who are most impacted by the virus are not gaining easy access to the vaccine.
In California, like many parts of the country, people of color have been vaccinated against coronavirus at much lower rates than their white counterparts. In order to counteract this, the state created a program specifically for the underserved to gain access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
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But now, wealthier Californians are gaming the system.
The program functions by creating access codes for the My Turn website, where one must make an appointment in order to get vaccinated. The codes were given to more than 2,000 organizations committed to helping those in Black and Latino communities get vaccinated via appointments at the Oakland Coliseum and at Cal State Los Angeles. The individuals receiving the codes must still be vaccine eligible.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the access codes leaked improperly and were shared in the group chats of wealthy residents in Los Angeles, and ineligible people were able to get appointments, then subsequent COVID-19 shots, at Cal State L.A.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has long said he would prioritize the vaccination of Black and Latino residents due to the disproportionate number of cases and deaths in those communities. Thousands of organizations targeting the vulnerable were contacted to participate in the state’s program, a plan meant be the manifestation of those promises.
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Additional reporting by Chinekwu Osakwe