The Latest: WH: Will increase vaccine supply next week

WASHINGTON — The White House is increasing the supply of coronavirus vaccines beginning next week, with an aim to ensure the equity of the distribution of doses.

Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the chair of the White House’s COVID-19 equity task force, says that the federal government is devoting 1 million doses to begin distributing vaccines at 250 community health centers. It’s meant to be a first phase of a program to expand vaccinations to the more than 1,300 federally supported community health centers, which primarily care for low-income and uninsured populations.

COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients says, “Efficiency and equity are both central to what we’re doing.”

Zients also announced states will see their allocation of doses rise to 11 million per week beginning next week, up more than 2 million since President Joe Biden took office.

___

THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— WHO team: Coronavirus likely jumped to humans from animals.

— Evidence is mounting that having COVID-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants.

— Authorities worry that raucous Super Bowl celebrations could fuel new outbreak s.

— South Africa seeks a new virus vaccination pla n after deciding not to use AstraZeneca jab, fearing it’s not effective enough against the country’s dominant variant.

— Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS...