President biden
Joe BidenDNC strengthens its finance team Pentagon extends National Guard presence on Capitol Hill until May 23 Blinken to appear on the Foreign Affairs Committee MORE will announce plans on Wednesday to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to secure another 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, a White House official confirmed.
Biden is expected to make the announcement during a meeting with executives from the pharmaceutical giant and Merck, according to The New York Times, which first reported on the development. The goal would be to have enough supplies to inoculate children and possibly administer booster doses or reformulate the vaccine for coronavirus variants.
Biden announced last week that the US would have enough vaccines for all American adults by the end of May, a condensed period of time from its previous July forecast.
But senior government officials told the Times that the White House is trying to prepare for unforeseen challenges that could disrupt vaccine production.
Authorities told the newspaper that they expect doses of Johnson & Johnson to be delivered in the second half of this year.
The president is hosting a meeting with Johnson & Johnson and Merck on Wednesday to highlight the partnership announced last week for the production of the first vaccine.
Biden said last week that he invoked the Defense Production Act to equip Merck’s facilities to safely manufacture the vaccine, and Johnson & Johnson plans to operate its factories full-time to increase supplies.
The president had originally scheduled a trip to Emergent BioSolutions in Baltimore. The trip to Emergent, which is helping to produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – it was canceled amid scrutiny that the federal government has spent half of its budget for National Strategic Stock in the past decade on contracts for Emergent anthrax vaccines.
–Morgan Chalfant contributed to this report, which was updated at 8:43 am