Covid-19 and Vaccine Live Updates: Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and More

Supplies of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine will be extremely limited until federal regulators approve production at a Baltimore manufacturing plant under scrutiny, the White House’s pandemic response coordinator said Friday.

With allocations of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine set to plunge by 86 percent next week, governors across the country warned that the loss of the supplies they were counting on would set back their vaccination drives, which have used the shot in more transient, isolated and rural areas where the one-dose vaccine has appealed to many Americans. The other two vaccines, made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, continue to flow out to the states at high volume.

The distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine, has been inconsistent since the company delivered its first batch at the beginning of March, sending 2.8 million doses across the country before dipping below 400,000 in the following weeks.

Last week, about 1.9 million doses were sent across the country, and this week, 4.9 million shots went out. Next week, that number will drop to 700,000.

At a White House briefing on Friday, Jeffrey D. Zients, who leads the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response, said that Johnson & Johnson ultimately expects to be able to deliver as many as eight million doses weekly, if a Baltimore plant making the bulk of doses for the United States is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. The New York Times reported last week that a mistake at the factory had contaminated around 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, delaying the plant’s authorization.

But Mr. Zients said he could not speculate on when the F.D.A. would authorize production lines at the plant, allowing shipments to pick up.

Until federal regulators give the green light, he said, Johnson & Johnson will only be able to deliver minimal doses of its one-shot vaccine, once heralded as a game changer in the nation’s rollout. Mr. Zients initially suggested that the firm would be able step up deliveries by the end of this month, then backed off, saying he did not know and could not speculate about what federal regulators might do.

Last month, Johnson & Johnson was forced to jettison up to 15 million doses manufactured at the factory because the batch had been contaminated with a virus used in the production of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is also manufactured there. Another 62 million doses worth of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are in jeopardy until it can be determined whether any of them were also contaminated.

Even if the plant is authorized, most of those doses would still need to be bottled and labeled, adding more delays.

Federal officials have said they still expect enough supply from the two other authorized vaccine manufacturers to be able to fulfill President Biden’s promise of having enough doses for all adults in the country by the end of May.

Nonetheless, states were counting on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to fill important gaps in vaccination campaigns. Easier to store and transport — the vaccine can be kept at normal refrigeration temperatures for three months — states had begun using it in transformative ways, on homeless populations, migrant workers and college students.

Federal administrators divide vaccine doses nationwide based on each state’s adult population. That means that California will bear the brunt of the reduction: After receiving 572,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, it will get only 67,600 next week, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

In Texas, the allocation will drop to 46,300 from 392,100. Florida, which received 313,200 shots this week, will get 37,000 next week. Guam, which received 16,900 doses this week, will receive none next week.

Jeff Zients, the White House Covid coordinator, said at a news briefing on Friday that the administration does not plan to shift additional vaccine doses to hard-hit states like Michigan, which is slated to get another 17,500 Johnson & Johnson doses next week, an 88 percent drop compared to the nearly 148,000 doses it was allocated this week, according to C.D.C. data.

The mistake that ruined so many doses occurred a plant in southeast Baltimore run by Emergent BioSolutions. Earlier in the spring, federal officials had projected that regulators would certify the plant by early April, and Johnson & Johnson would then be able deliver about four million doses a week beginning in April. Shipments are now limited to about 10 million doses a week from Moderna and more than 13 million a week from Pfizer.

Mitch Smith and Julie Bosman contributed reporting.

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Michigan’s Governor Urges Caution as Virus Cases Surge

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan called on residents of the state to exercise caution and practice upholding social distancing measures as coronavirus cases across the state spread.

Anyone who looks at a Covid map knows Michigan is unquestionably a national hotspot, right now. My team and I have been in regular conversation with the national Covid response team, and we have asked for more vaccines. But as we take a hard look at the data and observe the spread of the variants, we all need to go above and beyond the rules we already have in place. We all have to step up our game for the next two weeks to bring down rising cases. And that’s why I’m calling on high schools to voluntarily go remote for two weeks past spring break. Calling on youth sports to voluntarily suspend games and practices for two weeks. And I’m strongly encouraging all Michiganders to avoid dining indoors and avoid gathering with friends indoors for two weeks. This is my ask to you, the people of Michigan. Please redouble your efforts on these fronts for the next couple of weeks. I know Michiganders are concerned about the latest rise in cases, and I am too. We’ve come so far, we’ve sacrificed so much. This has changed every aspect of our lives for over a year. We can’t let up now, not when we’re so close.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan said Friday that she had urged President Biden to surge Covid-19 vaccines into her state, where a worst-in-the-nation outbreak has filled hospitals and forced some schools to close.

“I made the case for a surge strategy. At this point that’s not being deployed, but I am not giving up,” Ms. Whitmer said, describing a Thursday evening call with the president. “Today it’s Michigan and the Midwest. Tomorrow it could be another section of our country.”

Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat whom the president considered as a potential running mate, took pains to praise aspects of Mr. Biden’s coronavirus response at a Friday news conference. But Ms. Whitmer said a rapid influx of shots, particularly the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, was essential to tamping down case numbers even as she resisted additional restrictions on gatherings and businesses.

Supplies of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine will be extremely limited until federal regulators approve production at a Baltimore manufacturing plant under scrutiny, the White House’s pandemic response coordinator said Friday. The company will send 86 percent fewer doses across the United States next week than are currently being allocated, according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dealing a setback to a national vaccination campaign that has just found its footing. Michigan is slated to get another 17,500 Johnson & Johnson doses next week, an 88 percent drop compared to the nearly 148,000 doses it was allocated this week, according to C.D.C. data.

“The Biden administration does have a strategy and by in large it is working,” Ms. Whitmer said. “As should be expected, though, in an undertaking of this magnitude, there are shortcomings and different points of view.”

About 75 percent of vaccine doses sent to Michigan have been administered, according to federal data, near the middle of the pack nationally.

Jeff Zients, the White House Covid coordinator, said at a news briefing on Friday that the administration does not plan to shift additional vaccine…