COVID-19 vaccine shipments increasing from 11 million to 13.5 million per week, White House says

The Biden administration has announced another increase in COVID-19 vaccine shipments.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that President Biden's administration will be sending 13.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to states weekly, an increase from 11 million, CNBC reports.

Additionally, Psaki said the administration will be doubling the amount of vaccines that will be shipped directly to pharmacies to 2 million. The administration announced this program to send vaccines directly to select pharmacies earlier this month, saying that one million doses a week would go out to 6,500 pharmacies as it first launched.

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"Eventually, as supply increases, more than 40,000 pharmacy locations nationwide will be providing COVID-19 vaccines through this program," Psaski said. "This is a critical, critical part of our plan."

Weekly COVID-19 vaccine shipments have increased 57 percent since Biden's inauguration, Psaski said Tuesday, and according to USA Today, this latest boost in supply was the biggest so far. But USA Today also notes that "although vaccine distribution has increased, vaccination sites all over the country are shutting down while hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists." And Bloomberg reports that "federal officials also warned governors on Tuesday that extreme winter weather this week may delay vaccine shipments."