The Biden Administration and COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers are actively discussing ways to boost production over the next few months, including a partnership with additional pharmaceutical companies to bottle the vaccine for distribution.
According to two people familiar with the talks, the Biden team has been in talks with several companies to help complete and complete the portion of the vaccine manufacturing process. Several of those companies have emerged as frontrunners and an announcement could be made in the coming days, the sources said.
Asked about the manufacturing partnership talks, an individual working with the Biden COVID-19 team said “all options are on the table.”
Similar partnerships have already been concluded in Europe. Last week, Sanofi announced that it had signed an agreement with Pfizer to bottle its vaccine and that by the end of the year, 100 million doses would be available throughout the European Union. Sanofi is developing its own COVID-19 vaccine with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In December, the companies said the vaccine would be delayed after disappointing results in its elderly patients with clinical trials. “We have asked ourselves how we can be useful in the present to take part in the joint effort to end this crisis as soon as possible,” said Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi. Le figaro. Politico provided a translation of the interview.
Merck also announced last week that it would stop developing both of its COVID-19 vaccine candidates, citing inadequate immune responses. The company announced the acquisition of AmpTec earlier this month as a way to expand the company’s mRNA capabilities.
Discussions surrounding increased U.S. manufacturing come at a time when the Biden government is expanding the supply of the vaccine to meet the growing demand for the shot. The partnership will ensure that states across the country have the doses they need once the general population is eligible for vaccination.
Over the past few weeks, states have reported a shortage of supplies, saying they do not have enough doses to hand out to anyone who has a vaccination period. At the same time, however, federal data show that states have not yet administered and distributed all of the doses to them. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) vaccine detection shows that nearly 50 million doses have been distributed, but only 31 million have been administered. U.S. officials told The Daily Beast last week that they believe millions of doses are still being lost in the distribution system.
‘We believe that healthcare providers regularly withhold doses intended as first doses and rather hold as reserves for second doses. We understand why, but it does not have to happen and should not happen, “Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to Biden’s COVID-19 team, told reporters on Monday.
The Biden administration announced last week that it was trying to buy an additional 200 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna to ensure that 300 million Americans are vaccinated before the end of the summer. It was not immediately clear how or whether the companies had taken steps to further increase production than it currently does.
Last week, Johnson and Johnson and Novavax released their COVID-19 data. Novavax reported that phase 3 trial data showed that the vaccine was approximately 90 percent effective. Johnson and Johnson said the data show that the vaccine is only 66 percent effective against the virus, but 85 percent effective against preventing serious diseases. Both companies’ data show that the vaccines are less effective against the South African COVID-19 variant. Johnson and Johnson plan to file a request for authorization for emergency use with the Federal Medical Administration. The approval of the vaccine will help increase the supply of the vaccine over the next few months.