Merck & Co. will help produce Johnson & Johnson ’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, President Biden plans to announce on Tuesday, as the administration pushes to get the shot to the American public at a faster pace.
The president is expected to make the announcement while giving an update on the pandemic, administration officials said. The assistance from Merck, a competitor to Johnson & Johnson, will help speed up production after the one-shot vaccine was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday.
J&J declined to comment. In a statement on Tuesday, a Merck spokesman said the company “remains steadfast in our commitment to contribute to the global response to the pandemic and to preparing to address future pandemics.”
U.S. regulators cleared J&J’s vaccine—the third to receive approval—for use, but initial supplies are limited as the company boosts manufacturing efforts. The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company had made nearly four million doses for initial shipments that began going out this week. The Biden administration said it expected about 20 million doses to be delivered by the end of March.
The Biden administration has said it expects to have enough doses for all Americans by the end of July, based on agreements to purchase the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. It wasn’t immediately clear how the J&J vaccine would affect that timetable.
