“We have done a lot to help J&J, we are monitoring this closely and we expect a significant increase at the end of this month, which will allow them to reach at least 20 million doses,” Zients told reporters.
Context: Zients’ announcement came as a surprise, considering White House officials told governors on a private call that states should receive about 2 million doses of J&J, with about 1.5 million doses going into the federal health program. retail pharmacies.
J&J spent the week contesting claims that it would not deliver on its promise, while the company expected the Food and Drug Administration to release two partners, Emergent BioSolutions and Catalent, to help produce the vaccine.
The release for Catalent’s “fill-finish” facility came this week, and the company began shipping the vaccine on Wednesday.
What is the next: Zients said he has already warned governors and federal partners that increased supply is coming, and attributed the slow start to J&J to the fact that it is still at the beginning of the manufacturing process. He said the company will “achieve a more regular cadence” in deliveries in the coming weeks.
Zients’ comments came a day after President Joe Biden doubled his vaccination target to 200 million doses applied in the first 100 days. He said the federal government will send more vaccinators to the field to increase the number of daily vaccines.