RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia will get 49,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine next week, fewer than half of the doses expected. Despite that, the state’s vaccine coordinator believes enough shots will be available to move all communities into Phase 1c of Virginia’s vaccination plan.
According to Dr. Danny Avula, the state was anticipating a shipment with more than 100,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine but will now only get 49,000. A spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health, Maria Reppas, provided information from Avula in an email Thursday indicating the state’s effort to expand vaccine eligibility may be held up without a larger J&J supply.
“We don’t expect it to prevent us from moving into 1C,” the email read. “If our J&J supply doesn’t grow significantly from here, it may impact our ability to move to Phase 2, but not 1C.”
Avula cited a boost in the vaccine supply earlier this week when he asserted Virginia could attain President Joe Biden’s goal of expanding eligibility to all adults by May 1, telling 8News it could be possible in late April.
That was Monday, when Virginia was still expecting 100,000 doses of J&J’s vaccine for next week. A Johnson & Johnson spokesman, Jake Sargent, noted the federal government allocates the doses going to states and told 8News in an email Thursday the company still intends to fulfill a goal of distributing 20 million vaccines by the end of March.
Earlier this month, President Biden announced one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Merck, would assist Johnson & Johnson in producing its vaccine.
When the commonwealth moves forward to Phase 2, which allows anyone over 16 living or working in Virginia a chance to get the vaccine, could rely on the timetable for additional shipments of the single-dose vaccine.
Virginia has turned its vaccine rollout around, with a quarter of the state’s population receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. But not all localities in Virginia have reached Phase 1c of the vaccination plan, a step making all essential workers eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The state’s health department is using the Pfizer vaccine at community vaccination centers, so fewer Johnson & Johnson vaccines than expected won’t impact that effort.
Stay with 8News for updates.