Philadelphia to receive 13,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine in coming days

Philadelphia preps for first shipment of one-shot COVID-19 vaccine

FOX 29's Chris O'Connell has more on when Philadelphians can expect the newly approved Johnson and Johnson vaccine to arrive in the city.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia is expected to receive 13,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson and Johnson single-shot coronavirus vaccine, FOX 29's Chris O'Connell has learned.

The initial shipment will arrive in the coming days as Philadelphia prepares to open its federally-supported mass vaccination clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Wednesday.

Unlike its counterparts from Pfizer and Moderna, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires one dose to provide significant protection against COVID-19 and can be stored in refrigerated temperatures for up to three months.

MORE: Delaware expecting 8,000 doses of newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine next week

Shortly after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an Emergency Use Authorization for the J&J vaccine on Saturday, Delaware said it expects an initial shipment of 8,000 doses.

While early J&J supplies will be small, the company has said it can deliver 20 million doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June.

Projected deliveries from Pfizer, Moderna and J&J combine for 240 million doses slated for late March, and 700 million jabs by mid-year, the latter of which is more than enough to vaccinate the U.S. population.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. has dropped by 80,000 in six weeks since the start of mass vaccine rollouts but despite this slightly more positive result, deaths are still persistently high, though much lower than the peak in early January, when they sometimes exceeded 4,000 per day.

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