President Biden announced Tuesday that there would be enough doses of the coronavirus vaccine available for the entire adult population in the United States by the end of May, though he said it will take longer to inoculate everyone and he urged people to remain vigilant by wearing masks.
Mr. Biden had previously said there would be enough doses by the end of July. On Tuesday, he said the faster production of the vaccine was in part the result of an agreement by the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co to help manufacture the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine under an unusual deal, brokered by the White House.
He said that agreement, along with other efforts by the government to help Johnson & Johnson produce more doses quickly, will substantially increase the supply of the new vaccine and ramp up the pace of vaccination just as worrisome new variants of the virus have been found in the United States.
“As a consequence of the stepped up process that I ordered, and just outlined, this country will have enough vaccine supply as a target for every adult in America by the end of May,” Mr. Biden said. “By the end of May. That’s progress. Important progress.”
He also said he wanted all teachers vaccinated by the end of this month.
The Merck arrangement, first reported by The Washington Post, comes just days after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Merck is an experienced vaccine manufacturer whose own attempt at making a coronavirus vaccine was unsuccessful. Mr. Biden described the partnership between the two competitors as “historic,” and said it harks back to his vision of a wartime effort to fight the coronavirus, similar to the manufacturing campaigns waged during World War II.
“This is a type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II,” the president said.
Both Trump and Biden administration officials had explored enlisting Merck’s help in manufacturing vaccines developed by either Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson. But Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the White House deserved credit for bringing the deal to fruition.
“There’s a difference between conversations and it moving forward,” she said. “I’m only conveying what got it across the finish line.”
Just how quickly Merck will be able to ramp up is unclear. It will take months for the company to convert its facilities to manufacture and package a vaccine that it did not invent, according to two people familiar with Johnson & Johnson’s operations who were not authorized to speak publicly. But one federal official with knowledge of the arrangement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration hopes the deal would eventually double the doses that Johnson & Johnson could have manufactured on its own.
Although company executives have promised that the firm will catch up this spring, Johnson & Johnson has been running behind on its manufacturing targets as it tries to ramp up at its new plant in Baltimore. Its initial shipments of doses, delivered this week to states, were manufactured at its plant in the Netherlands.
Under the new agreement, Merck will dedicate two of its facilities to production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
One facility will provide “fill-finish,” the final phase of the manufacturing process during which the vaccine is placed in vials and packaged for shipping. The other will make the “drug substance” — the vaccine itself.
Ms. Psaki said that the federal government will invoke the Defense Production Act to help Merck obtain necessary supplies and equipment, and has also asked the Defense Department to strengthen Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing effort.
The Johnson…
Read More: Covid-19: Biden Says Vaccine Doses Could Be Available for All Adult Americans by End of May