WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will announce plans on Wednesday to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 single-dose vaccine, giving the United States more than enough to vaccinate the entire US population.
Biden will announce that he is directing his Health and Human Services team to obtain additional doses during a meeting with executives from J&J and Merck, according to two management officials.
Biden said this month that the United States is on track to have enough vaccine doses for every adult in the country to be vaccinated by the end of May, after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the J&J vaccine.
The US had already secured arrangements for sufficient vaccine doses for each adult, even without the addition of the J&J vaccine last month, when the US finalized an agreement with Pfizer and Moderna for an additional 200 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of July. But having the agreement in place with J&J for another 100 million doses can help serve as a barrier if Pfizer or Moderna has manufacturing problems.
The White House announced this month that Johnson & Johnson would be working with rival drugmaker Merck & Co. to accelerate the production of its single-dose vaccine.
