The Biden administration and COVID-19 vaccine producers are actively discussing ways to increase manufacturing over the coming months, including partnering with additional pharmaceutical companies to help bottle the vaccine for distribution.
According to two people familiar with these conversations, the Biden team has held talks with various companies to intervene to help fill and finish – the part of filling the vials with vaccine – part of the vaccine manufacturing process. Several of these companies have emerged as leaders and an announcement could be made in the coming days, these sources reported.
Asked about the manufacturers ’association talks, one person working with the Biden COVID-19 team said“ all options are on the table ”.
Similar associations have already been established in Europe. Last week, Sanofi announced that it had signed an agreement with Pfizer to bottle the vaccine and that there will be 100 million doses available across the European Union by the end of the year. Sanofi is trying to develop its own COVID-19 vaccine with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In December, companies said the vaccine would be delayed after disappointing results in their patients with older clinical trials. “We wondered how we could become useful in the present to participate in the collective effort to end this crisis as soon as possible,” said Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi. Le Figaro. Politico provided a translation of the interview.
Merck also announced last week that it would stop developing the two candidates against the COVID-19 vaccine, citing inadequate immune responses. The company earlier this month had announced the acquisition of AmpTec as a way to expand the company’s mRNA capabilities.
Discussions about the increase in U.S. manufacturing come at a time when the Biden administration is working to scale up the vaccine supply to meet the growing demand for the vaccine. The association would ensure that states across the country have the doses they need once the general population is eligible for vaccination.
In recent weeks, states have reported shortages of supply, saying they do not have enough doses to distribute to all those who have scheduled vaccination appointments. At the same time, however, federal data show that states have not yet administered all the doses allocated and distributed to them. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) vaccine tracker shows that about 50 million doses have been distributed, but only 31 million have been administered. U.S. officials told The Daily Beast last week that they believed millions of doses were still lost in the distribution system.
“We believe that some healthcare providers regularly retain doses that are intended as first doses and instead remain as second-dose reserves. We understand why, but it doesn’t have to happen and it shouldn’t happen,” he said Monday. to journalists Andy Slavitt, senior advisor to the Biden COVID-19 team.
The Biden administration announced last week that it is trying to buy an additional 200 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna to ensure vaccination of 300 million Americans before the end of the summer. It was not immediately known how or if those companies had taken steps to expand manufacturing beyond their current capabilities.
Last week Johnson and Johnson and Novavax released their COVID-19 data. Novavax reported that its phase 3 trial data showed that the vaccine was about 90 percent effective. Johnson and Johnson said their data showed that the vaccine was only 66% effective in protecting against the virus, but 85% effective in preventing serious disease. Data from both companies show that vaccines are less effective against the South African variant COVID-19. Johnson and Johnson plan to file an application for emergency use authorization with the Federal Drug Administration. The approval of this vaccine would help increase the supply of the vaccine over the coming months.