Johnson & Johnson’s board member, dr. Mark McClellan, told CNBC that “if the clinical trial succeeds,” the company could significantly increase the availability of the country’s Covid vaccine within the coming weeks.
“I do know that J&J is making a very large supply and its production, here in the US and elsewhere around the world, is going full steam ahead, with the aim of having perhaps enough vaccinations for 100 million Americans by spring spring. “The former FDA commissioner said in a Thursday night interview on ‘The News with Shepard Smith’.
During remarks in the White House on Thursday, the government’s leading infectious disease doctor, Anthony Fauci, said Johnson & Johnson would have enough information about his vaccine to begin the analysis within a week or two. McClellan told host Shepard Smith that the most important thing for the company’s vaccine is the large-scale clinical trial now underway.
“The independent scientists overseeing the study need to take a closer look in the near future, and we’ll see how quickly the vaccine can proceed,” McClellan said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the U.S. has averaged about 883,000 Covid vaccines per day over the past six days. Nevertheless, less than 50% of the 37,960,000 doses distributed fell into the arms of humans.
At least 12 states have reported vaccine shortages. Officials from San Francisco and New York have warned they could be completely out of doses this week. At least 15 vaccination sites in New York City have been temporarily closed. New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio has told Gabe Gutierrez, NBC, that at least 23,000 vaccine appointments should be rescheduled.
McClellan noted that “supply will increase, but probably not enough to keep up with the large number of Americans who really want to get vaccinated now.” However, he told Smith that he thinks the Biden government will be able to help increase the speed of the vaccination.
“It’s going to be challenging, but I think the offer will be there over the next few months to vaccinate even more than 100 million Americans,” said McClellan, a health policy expert at Duke University.
President Joe Biden promises a “full-scale effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic and to accelerate vaccine production using the Defense Act during a period of information session Thursday.
“We have already identified suppliers and are working with them to move the plan forward,” Biden said.
He added that the DPA will help solve problems with the supply chain, including a shortage of syringes.