Johnson & Johnson’s board member, dr. Mark McClellan told CNBC on Friday that there could be enough vaccinations for the entire U.S. adult population by summer.
“Assuming that all the careful review of the J&J data expands everything, we will have the ability between Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, to have enough vaccines available for the entire U.S. population by June,” McClellan said. a former FDA. commissioner, said on ‘The News with Shepard Smith.’
The US plans to buy 200 million doses of Covid vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer. The Department of Health and Human Services will increase its vaccine supply to states from 8.6 million to a minimum of 10 million doses per week. To date, states have received more than 49 million doses, but only about half of them have ended up in people’s arms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency reports that the US fires a little over a million shots every day.
McClellan that the US should significantly increase the amount of shots administered per day and “get our ability to do vaccinations closer to 3 million doses per day.”
The United States has ordered 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine, which the company plans to deliver by June. J&J plans to apply for the emergency use authorization next week. If J & J’s vaccine is approved by the FDA, it’s the third vaccine approved for emergency use in the US. Pfizer’s vaccine was approved by the FDA on December 11, and Moderna’s was approved a week later.
The efficiency figures of J & J were lower than those for Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer’s vaccine has been found to be 95% effective in preventing Covid-19, while Moderna’s is approximately 94% effective. The J&J vaccine has been found to be 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe Covid.
Host Shepard Smith asked McClellan about the lower efficiency numbers compared to Pfizer and Moderna, and he explained to Smith that “today we are fighting a different virus than we were three months ago when previous trials were conducted.”
In addition, J&J held its trial across three continents and the level of protection varied by region. Its vaccination shows an overall effectiveness of 72% in the United States and 66% in Latin America. In South Africa, where the dangerous B.1.351 strain of Covid caused an increase in cases, the J&J vaccine showed 57% efficacy.
“Unfortunately, we’ll probably be fighting another virus for three months from now, so the most important thing to win this battle is to get as many people vaccinated as possible,” McClellan said. “The faster we get gunshots, the more people we get vaccinated here in this country and around the world, the better we are going to do to limit the further spread and further damage of Covid.”