Is It Fair for Low Income and Rural Communities to Get the 'Third-Best' Vaccine?
By
Mark Kreidler
On 3/4/21 at 7:59 AM EST
This story is co-published with Capital & Main
Questions of equity: The first shipping box of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine on March 1, 2021 in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The FDA has approved a third vaccine and 3.9 million doses of J&J will begin distribution.
Timothy D. Easley-Pool/Getty Images
On the face of it, the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine appears a pure good. The vaccine requires only a single shot and can store in a standard refrigerator, and the White House said Monday that the manufacturer's entire current supply—3.9 million doses—will go out immediately, providing a short-term boost to the nation's effort to get Americans vaccinated as quickly as possible.