Health officials worry about vax supply after Johnson snafu

Oregon and Washington State are getting closer to opening up COVID-19 eligibility to everyone who is 16 and older.

Washington will open up to all adults on April 15 and Oregon on April 19.

However, health officials are concerned about shortages in the single-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine after 15 million doses were spoiled in the manufacturing process. All states will get much lower dose allocations from the federal government starting this week.

“This week, we received over 60,000 Johnson and Johnson doses, and next week that drops to 8,000 the week after that it drops to 2,000,” Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said.

Allen said this is a pretty big setback.

“That’s a big hit to us and our supply at a point when a lot of Oregonians have been made eligible or will become eligible on the 19th,” he said.

Oregon received 61,400 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine the week of April 5, but this week will only get 7,300, a decrease of nearly 90 percent.

The OHA provided FOX 12 with a statement on the shortage:

“Oregon will not delay our vaccine eligibility timelines, despite the disruption in Johnson & Johnson doses that were first available in Oregon on March 4. However, we need to temper our hopes of having enough doses to vaccinate all Oregonians 16 and older by late May and bump that expectation back a couple of weeks.”
In Washington State, they’re experiencing a similar drop-off. The state got 109,000 doses the week of April 5, but this week will only get 12,900. The following week they expect that number to drop to only 4,300.

The Washington State Department of Health released the following statement:

“Washington state’s allocation of Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the federal supply was very small this week, and the forecast shows it will stay that way for the immediate future. Because we cannot guarantee this vaccine to anyone right now, we are pausing the ability for Washington providers to request Johnson & Johnson next week, and possibly for the next several weeks, until this supply bottleneck passes.”

There will be no impacts on the Oregon Convention Center because they do not administer the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. KPTV