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RI COVID-19 subcommittee to discuss new Johnson & Johnson vaccine Wednesday

Tom Mooney
The Providence Journal
An illustration shows vials with COVID-19 vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of Johnson & Johnson on Nov. 17. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

PROVIDENCE — The state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee is expected to meet Wednesday to discuss how the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine will roll out in Rhode Island, a Health Department spokesman said Sunday.

"The timeline is not set, but it is conceivable that we could be administering this vaccine in Rhode Island in two weeks or so," said spokesman Joseph Wendelken.

Federal drug regulators cleared the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine for use Saturday, adding a third vaccine to the nation’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week state Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said the federal government had told officials that the state will receive an initial shipment of 9,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

But, “We don’t know what subsequent allocations would look like,” Wendelken said Sunday.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, like the currently available Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, has proven to be very effective at reducing infections and stopping serious illness.