Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) – Get report The One-shot Covid-19 vaccine is reportedly two months behind the original production schedule and will not be delayed until the end of April.
Citing people familiar with the matter, The New York Times reported that while Johnson & Johnson expects to release the results of its Covid-19 vaccine test in just two weeks, production is likely experiencing manufacturing delays that will prevent the vaccine from out the door and in arms until April.
The delays come as the United States continues to experience record infections, hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the new coronavirus, which has so far infected some 91.6 million people, resulting in more than 1.96 million deaths, according to John University Hopkins.
More than 4,300 people died of the disease on Tuesday, since the total death toll in the country exceeded 380,000.
If the Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine for emergency use, Johnson & Johnson will be able to contribute to the US vaccination campaign in March.
However, apparent delays in Johnson & Johnson’s production skills can still hinder efforts to launch the vaccine and put it on the guns. Federal authorities have been informed that the company was up to two months behind the original production schedule and will not be late until late April, when it should have delivered more than 60 million doses.
Johnson & Johnson scientific director Paul Stoffels told the Times that if the data
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson noted that it is still awaiting phase 3 data from its vaccine trial and has not yet applied for or received emergency use authorization from the FDA.
“We continue to have active discussions with regulators, including the approval and validation of our manufacturing processes,” said the company. “We have started production of our candidate vaccine and we are confident in our ability to meet our 2021 supply commitments signed with governments, and we hope to share more details after some of these steps are completed.”
If the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can strongly protect people against Covid-19, as some outside scientists hope, it would offer great advantages over the two vaccines currently authorized in the United States, which require two doses and more complicated cold storage requirements .
Pfizer (PFE) – Get report and BioNTech (BNTX) – Get report as well as Modern (MRNA) – Get report received emergency clearance to launch their vaccines last month.
The United States remains lagging behind in its vaccination schedule. As of Tuesday, 27 million vaccines have been distributed, although only 9 million have been administered, according to data from the Center for Disease Control.
Johnson & Johnson’s shares fell 0.16% to $ 157.87 in Wednesday’s trading.