Foreground of the Modern Vaccine at the COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic of the Department of Health in Park County for the elderly aged 80 and over, on January 28, 2021 in Livingston, Montana.
William Campbell | Getty Images
Moderna, which is trying to boost Covid-19 vaccine production, met with Nexus Pharmaceuticals to discuss the production of the photo at the company’s new Wisconsin plant, which has the capacity to process and fill 30 million doses a month, sources said. about this subject. said.
The meeting between Moderna and the specialty drug manufacturer took place on Tuesday, sources said.
Senior White House and administration officials, including David Kessler, chief scientific officer for Covid’s response, and Tim Manning, Covid-19’s supply coordinator, facilitated the introductions and discussions between Nexus, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, according to two sources.
Even though President Joe Biden said there will be enough vaccines for all adults in the United States by May, there may still be supply problems later in the year, especially if people need a booster vaccine at some point. to protect against variants of the virus that may be circulating.
It remains unclear whether the meeting will result in an agreement for the manufacture of vaccines at the Nexus plant, sources said. Funding from the Defense Production Act will be essential for an agreement to work, one source said.
“Modern is looking to produce more vaccines … and Nexus has the ability to do that,” said one source.
Nexus in Illinois does not currently manufacture Covid-19 vaccines, but has developed the capacity to increase production at their new Wisconsin plant, one source said.
The White House declined to comment. Nexus and Moderna also declined to comment.
On Tuesday, Moderna said it was about to deliver 300 million doses to the United States by the end of July, in line with its commitments. Moderna delivered 45 million vaccines to the United States in March.
The CEO of Moderna said on Wednesday that the company is unlikely to significantly accelerate its vaccine production in the next few months, although it is expected that production will have increased significantly by 2022.
The Biden administration has previously brokered commitments among rival drug manufacturers to increase production of the Covid-19 vaccine.
In March, Biden announced that Merck & Co. would help manufacture the Johnson & Johnson single-injection coronavirus vaccine.
Despite his efforts, there have been significant failures.
For example, approximately 15 million doses of J&J vaccine were wasted due to contamination with ingredients from AstraZeneca shots at a Baltimore plant that produced both. This emerging BioSolutions feature will now only produce J&J photos.
Separately, on Tuesday, federal health agencies recommended discontinuing the use of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine, while analyzing six cases of rare blood clots in women under the age of 50 who received the vaccine.