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Investors are counting on vaccines to end the virus crisis.
Courtesy Johnson & Johnson
Johnson and johnsonOf
Kovid-19 promises huge promise to get out of the worst path of the vaccine epidemic. Delivered as a single dose, without extreme vaccine storage requirements
Pfizer
And
Moderna,
If it proves to be effective, it may trigger global vaccination.
But on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the company is facing delays in the manufacturing of the vaccine that put it up to two months ahead of its initial production schedule. The Phase III trial of the Johnson & Johnson (ticker: JNJ) vaccine is expected to be reported in the coming weeks amid expected data.
Speaking on Monday at JPMorgan’s Health Care Investor Conference, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorski said the company has targeted “hundreds of millions of doses” of vaccines available and “close to a billion” in the first half of this year . by the end of the year.
“We’re still on track to be able to get those versions,” Gorski said. “And then, we are working night and day to see what else we can do to grow even faster in an effective and safe, more, higher quality way.”
But according to Wednesday’s New York Times report, the company has lagged behind in terms of production, thanks to the federal government’s Operation Taunting Speed.
Under the terms of that deal announced in August, the company agreed to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine to the US government for $ 1 billion. The company did not disclose specific production timeline targets at the time, but the New York Times reported on Wednesday that 12 million doses were meant to be ready by the end of February.
The Times says that the production schedule is now delayed by two months. An Johnson & Johnson official did not comment on the production in an interview given by The Times, but an Operation Tana Speed official confirmed the delay on paper. The Times reports that the company now hopes to put its original production schedule on hold by the end of April. By then, it had planned to deliver more than 60 million doses.
Johnson & Johnson did not immediately answer a question Baron’s About the Times report on Wednesday morning.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson gained 0.4% in prepaid trading. The stock has gained 7.6% in the last 12 months.
Write Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
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