WASHINGTON – Johnson & Johnson is due to deliver 11 million doses of its Covid-19 single dose vaccine to the United States next week, the White House announced, after concerns that the company might fall short of its 20 million production target of doses by the end of the month.
The United States received 4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine shortly after it was released for use in late February. But since then, there has been a delay in production, as the manufacturer has increased operations.
“We did 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, ”said Jeffrey Zients, Covid White House coordinator, speaking with only five days remaining in March.
The influx of the single-dose vaccine will boost the Biden government’s goal of delivering 200 million doses in the president’s first 100 days – a goal that government officials have said they can achieve if they maintain the current 2.5 million dose pace per day . Currently, 1 in 3 adults has been vaccinated, said Zients.
Since the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only a single dose, mass vaccination clinics with the injection are easy to conduct and require limited follow-up.
Johnson & Jonson had production problems that the Biden government helped solve by brokering an agreement between the company and rival drugmaker Merck to assist in the production of the vaccine. Zients said he also expects Pfizer and Moderna to achieve their goal of delivering 100 million doses each by the end of March.
