President Biden is expected to announce a deal to buy an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, doubling the supply ordered by the federal government.
Biden will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to purchase the additional shots after a meeting Wednesday with J&J and Merck, on top of the 100 million doses Johnson & Johnson has promised.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE ROLLOUT WILL BE UNEVEN THROUGH MARCH, SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS SAY
The administration hopes to build a stockpile of vaccines to have enough on hand to administer booster shots or reformulate the vaccines to deal with highly transmissible coronavirus variants. The federal government also intends to have enough shots available for children if researchers determine that they are safe for people under 16.
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Biden’s announcement comes about a week after competing pharmaceutical companies J&J and Merck struck a deal to team up in the effort to accelerate manufacturing of the single-dose vaccine. Unexpected production issues had meant that Johnson & Johnson was only able to produce 3.9 million doses before receiving emergency use authorization on Feb. 27. The United States is on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May, Biden has said.
