Will have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate all Americans by July-end: Joe Biden

United States President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the country will have around 600 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by end of July, enough to inoculate all Americans.

"By the end of July we'll have 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every American," said Biden at a CNN town hall meeting.

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The government had announced last week that Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. would deliver 300 million doses of each of their vaccines to the US by the end of July.

Biden also said that he wanted a faster return of children to schools and that he backs vaccinations for teachers. Authorities should "move them up in the hierarchy."

Asked when life will get back to normal, Biden said "by next Christmas, we will be in a very different circumstance."

"A year from now I think that there will be significantly fewer people that have to be socially distanced, have to wear a mask," Biden said, adding that he could not be sure.

The US president has previously predicted that vaccines might be available to all by spring, but the White House has recently toned down its optimism, citing difficulties both with the availability of vaccines and ability to deliver them.

The White House announced earlier Tuesday that vaccine shipments to states would rise next week to 13.5 million, from 11 million, while shipments going to pharmacies would double to two million next week.

However, White House officials warned governors during a call on Tuesday that inclement weather could slow deliveries over the next few days.

Production law

Biden also said that Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. agreed to sell more doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the US faster than planned after he invoked federal law that could force their production.

“We got them to move up time because we used the National Defense Act to be able to help the manufacturing piece of it, to get more equipment,” Biden said.

He appeared to be referring to the Defense Production Act, a law that allows the government to nationalize commercial production in emergencies.