Rivals team up for COVID-19 vaccine distribution

The drugmaker Merck will help produce shots by its rival Johnson & Johnson, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday. That should help speed up manufacturing of the only single-dose vaccine available in the states after the company faced unexpected production problems. The White House also announced it’s bumping up its weekly vaccine distribution from 14.5 million doses to 15.2 million. Almost 20 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 10 percent are fully immunized.

Is the virus still spreading? The recent precipitous decline in daily new cases seems to have slowed. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urged states and Americans to continue prevention measures, particularly as new variants of the virus spread. Several states and jurisdictions have moved to lift restrictions in recent weeks. Texas on Tuesday became the largest state to lift its mask requirement and allow businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity.

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report about California’s vaccine rollout.