The new J&J vaccine started shipping from a Kentucky warehouse on Monday, with an initial 3.9 million doses expected to arrive at destinations across the country within 24 to 48 hours.
But even with this third vaccine rolling out across the U.S., the director of the Centers for Disease Control is warning of another possible COVID surge.
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Rochelle Walensky say it is true that cases did level off following the holiday surge at the beginning of the year.
But those numbers are now plateauing at a disturbingly high rate, with more than 76,000 thousand cases last week.
That is up 2% week-to-week, with authorities still reporting nearly 2000 deaths nationwide every day.
“I’m really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19,” Walensky said. “Please hear me clearly. At this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.”
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In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is again taking aim at Governor Andrew Cuomo over vaccinations.
The mayor says nearly half of all the vaccine appointments at state-run sites are going to people who don’t even live in the city.
He cited new data showing 42% of all vaccinations at Javits are going to New Yorkers who live outside the city.
And at the Aqueduct Racetrack site in Queen, the percentage of non-city residents getting vaccinated is as high as 75%.
“These big sites do not actually help us improve equity and fight disparity, unfortunately, unless they’re targeted properly,” de Blasio said. “In terms of New York City, these sites do not perform what we hope to see, which is more and more focused on equity.”
Mayor de Blasio has a goal of getting five million city residents vaccinated by June.
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