(Reuters) – The Biden government is exploring every option to increase the production of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is under regulatory review, and said on Friday that the expected levels of early doses are currently lower than hoped is.
The White House called on the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer Inc boost production of COVID-19 vaccines and that ‘every option’ was on the table to produce more Johnson & Johnson vaccine if it would be approved.
It will also use wartime to increase COVID-19 tests and make more surgical gloves in the United States, officials said at a Friday news conference.
“As with other vaccines, we have not found that the level of manufacturing enables us to have as many vaccines as we think we should get to the gate,” said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House ‘s COVID-19, said. reaction team, with reference to the J&J vaccine.
J&J applied for permission for US emergency use on Thursday. A vaccine is expected to be ready for distribution once it is approved, but did not say how much.
Robert Kramer, CEO of Emergent Biosolutions, said in an interview on Friday that the company currently manufactures bulk medicines for J&J. Emergent only produces large vaccine, which is then filled into syringes or vials and packaged by another contractor.
Kramer said they were on track to make enough products for hundreds of millions of doses a year. It remains unclear what other supply bottlenecks may be. Kramer said his company has already benefited from the Defense Administration Act under the Trump administration, which has helped the company get to the point where it is ready to go.
Under the authority of the Defense Production Act, the government will give preference to two components that are important for the production of Pfizer’s vaccine – filling pumps and tangential flow filtration units, officials said.
“We told you that when we hear from a bottleneck of the necessary equipment, supplies or technology related to vaccine supply, we will step in and help, and we will do just that,” said Tim Manning, the supply chain coordinator of the national organization. , said. COVID-19 answer.
The government will also call on its powers under the Defense Production Act to increase COVID-19 tests along with six unnamed manufacturers, with the aim of delivering 61 million tests by the summer, Manning said.
It will also call on its powers to increase the supply of surgical gloves, which are manufactured almost exclusively overseas.
Manning said the government will build factories that manufacture the raw materials for surgical gloves and help build plants in the United States to manufacture the gloves.
By the end of the year, the United States would be able to manufacture one billion gloves a month.
Officials said that once J & J’s vaccine was approved, it would mean there would be millions more doses available for states. The vaccine is single-use, unlike Pfizer and Moderna Inc’s two-dose vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator.
Officials hoped the ease of giving the J&J vaccine would mean states could immunize residents faster.
Reporting by Dania Nadeem, Rebecca Spalding and Julie Steenhuysen, Editing by Peter Henderson, Steve Orlofsky and David Gregorio