J&J does not have a large stock of doses, say Biden officials

Johnson & Johnson has not yet produced many doses of the single-shot Covid-19 vaccine before regulatory approval is expected later this month.

The administration has learned in recent weeks that J&J will only have a few million doses ready if the vaccine is likely to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Jeff Zients, president Joe Biden’s Covid tsar, told reporters on Wednesday. Home News briefing on the pandemic.

Federal and state health officials expected that the supply of vaccines would increase rapidly after the emergency approval of J & J’s vaccine. The FDA planned a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products on February 26 to discuss the vaccine, and the US could approve the vaccine the very next day.

J&J currently has an agreement with the US government to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of June, Zients said. Assuming the vaccine is approved, the Biden government will work with J&J to sharpen the offer as soon as possible, he said. He added that US officials hope that many of the doses will be available in the first months of their onset.

“We are doing everything in our power to work with the company to accelerate the delivery schedule,” he said.

The news comes as the Biden government is increasing the supply of doses, after states complained that demand for the shots quickly exceeded supply. About 39.7 million of the 331 million Americans received at least their first dose of Pfizer or Moderna’s dual-dose vaccines, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. And 15 million people have already had their second chance.

Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. has secured 100 million more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 100 million more of the Moderna vaccine, increasing the total U.S. supply to 600 million doses. Because the vaccines require two doses, a total of 600 million doses will be enough to vaccinate 300 million Americans.

And a few days later, on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the Biden government was increasing the number of doses of Covid-19 sent weekly to states, sending out 13.5 million doses this week. and the number doubled to retail pharmacies.

This is an evolving story. Please come and check for updates.