The Biden administration will soon allow states to order coronavirus shots that other states aren’t using
, marking a major shift in strategy as the White House readies a new push to lift falling vaccination rates.
“If we make progress towards this goal, more and more Americans gain protection from Covid-19,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters, previewing Biden's Tuesday afternoon speech on the vaccination campaign. “We should see case counts, hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall, and America will have taken a serious step toward a return to normal.”
States receive weekly vaccine allotments based on their populations. The new move lets states that don’t order all available doses put them into a pool for other states to order from that week, rather than roll over in the following week. Other states with greater demand for vaccines can request those doses and receive up to 50 percent of their regular allocation. The change won’t affect how much vaccine the state receives the following week.