Johnson & Johnson board member Dr. Mark McClellan told CNBC that “if the clinical trial occurs,” the company could significantly increase the availability of the country’s Covid vaccine in the coming weeks.
“I know J&J is supplying a very large supply, with all of its production, both in the United States and anywhere else in the world, with the goal of having maybe enough vaccines for 100 million Americans before spring, this April or so, ”the former FDA commissioner said in a Thursday evening interview on“ The News with Shepard Smith ”.
During White House statements on Thursday, the government’s chief doctor of infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci, said Johnson & Johnson would have enough data on its vaccine to begin testing in a week or two. McClellan told host Shepard Smith that the most important thing for the vaccine company is the large-scale clinical trial that is underway now.
“The independent scientists overseeing this study should look closely in the very near future based on these results, and we’ll see how quickly the vaccine could move forward,” McClellan said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States makes an average of 883,000 shots a day during the last six days. Despite this, less than 50% of the 37,960,000 distributed doses have entered people’s arms.
At least 12 states have reported a shortage of vaccines. Officials in San Francisco and New York warned they could be completely out of dose this week. At least 15 vaccination sites in New York City have been temporarily closed. New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio told NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez that at least 23,000 vaccine appointments will have to be rescheduled.
McClellan noted that “supply will increase, but it probably won’t be enough to keep up with the large number of Americans who really want to get vaccinated now.” However, he told Smith that he believes the Biden administration will be able to help increase the speed of vaccine launches.
“It will be a challenge, but I think there will be supply over the next two months to vaccinate even more than 100 million Americans,” said McClellan, a health policy expert at Duke University.
President Joe Biden promised a “large-scale war effort” to combat the coronavirus pandemic and accelerate vaccine production through the Defense Production Act during a information session Thursday.
“We have already identified suppliers and are working with them to move the plan forward,” Biden said.
He added that the DPA would help solve problems with the supply chain, including the shortage of syringes.