200,000 Ohio Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses set to expire, DeWine urges action

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVG) - Gov. DeWine is urging vaccine providers to administer as many doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as possible in the next few weeks before hundreds of thousands of doses go to waste. According to the governor’s office, there are approximately 200,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine in the state that are set to expire on June 23.

In a statement sent to the media, Gov. DeWine told those still waiting to get their vaccine that they have plenty of options to do so, including the Johnson & Johnson doses.

“It is safe and effective and only requires one shot,” says the statement. “In just two weeks, you could be protected from this virus. Getting vaccinated is the quickest way out of the pandemic and the fastest way for us to return to the lives we remember.

According to the governor’s office, the state has no legal option to send those vaccine doses to other states or to other countries that could use them and vaccine providers have been directed to provide vaccine doses as in the order they are set to expire.