Close-up of the Modern Vaccine at the COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic of Park County for seniors 80 years and older on January 28, 2021 in Livingston, Montana.
William Campbell | Getty Images
Moderna, which wants to increase production of its Covid-19 vaccine, met with Nexus Pharmaceuticals to discuss manufacturing the inclusion in the new plant in Wisconsin, which has the capacity to process and fill 30 million doses per month . said.
The sources said on Tuesday the meeting between Moderna and the manufacturer of specialty medicine took place.
Senior White House and administration officials, including David Kessler, chief scientific officer for Covid Response, and Tim Manning, Covid-19 supply coordinator, facilitated introductions and discussions between Nexus, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, according to two sources.
Although President Joe Biden has said that by May there will be enough vaccines for all adults in the United States, there may still be concerns later in the year, especially if people need a boost shot at some point to protect against virus variants that may circulate.
It remains unclear whether the meeting will result in an agreement to manufacture vaccines at the Nexus plant, the sources said. One of the sources said that funding from the Defense Production Act is essential to make an agreement work.
“Modern wants to produce more vaccines … and Nexus has the ability to do that,” said one source.
Nexus, which is based in Illinois, does not currently manufacture Covid-19 vaccines, but has the ability to boost production at its new plant in Wisconsin, one of the sources said.
The White House declined to comment on the meeting. Nexus and Moderna also declined to comment.
Moderna said Tuesday it is on track to deliver 300 million doses to the United States by the end of July, in line with its commitments. Moderna delivered 45 million vaccines to U.S. states in March.
Moderna’s CEO said on Wednesday that the company is unlikely to significantly accelerate vaccine production in the next few months, although he expects production to increase significantly by 2022.
The administration of Biden has previously entered into commitments among rival drug manufacturers to increase the production of Covid-19 vaccines.
In March, Biden announced that Merck & Co would assist in the manufacture of Johnson & Johnson’s single-graft coronavirus vaccine.
Despite his efforts, there were significant setbacks.
About 15 million doses of J&J vaccine, for example, were wasted due to contamination with ingredients from AstraZeneca’s shot to a factory in Baltimore that produced both. The Emergent BioSolutions facility will now only deliver the J&J shot.
Separately, U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended maintaining the use of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine, while investigating six cases of rare brain blood clots in women under 50 who received the shot.