TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas expects to receive significantly fewer doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the next few weeks, state health officials said Wednesday.
The state estimates it will receive 5,000 doses next week and 1,700 doses each of the last two weeks of April, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said.
Kansas had expected to receive 15,800 doses during those weeks, the department said.
The department did not give a reason for the decrease. But Johnson & Johnson had to discard 15 million doses in late March when a batch made at a Baltimore plant did not meet quality standards.
“We are alerting all providers now as this will have (a) significant impact on planning for the coming weeks,” a health department alert said.
Doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are expected to remain consistent with what has been received in recent weeks, The Wichita Eagle reported.
About 35,427 of the roughly 931,653 first doses of a vaccine administered in Kansas are from Johnson & Johnson. In Kansas, 538,903 people, or 18.5% of the state’s population, have been fully vaccinated.
On Wednesday, the state reported 303,767 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 4,932 deaths since the pandemic began.
