US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that his government has signed agreements to purchase 200 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
“This afternoon, we signed final contracts for an additional 100 million doses of Moderna and an additional 100 million vaccines from Pfizer.”he said after a tour of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) headquarters near Washington.
“We are now on track to have enough supplies to (vaccinate) 300 million Americans by the end of July,” he added.
The Biden government said it was looking into these deals last month increase the stock of vaccines in the US by 50%.
The US vaccination campaign got off to a shaky start in December, but has since improved: at least 34.7 million people have already received one of two doses of immunization, about 10% of the population.
In total, according to official figures, 46.3 million doses have already been administered and 68.2 million doses have already been distributed.
Thousands of pharmacies made agreements on Thursday to start injecting the next day.
The federal government has also used emergency legislation to increase vaccine production, opened massive stadium vaccination centers, and launched a separate program to reach disadvantaged communities.