Johnson & Johnson aims to produce 1B doses of COVID-19 vaccine by next year

(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:18 AM PT — Monday, May 11, 2020

Johnson & Johnson executives said the company is aiming to deliver a billion coronavirus vaccines by next year. Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels said the company is speeding up manufacturing and preparing clinical trials for a potential vaccine in September.

Dr. Stoffels noted that he doesn’t think COVID-19 will go away on its own and is spreading throughout the U.S. so quickly that drugs are urgently needed to control it. The chief scientific officer is not ruling out the possibility of distributing a vaccine before it advances out of clinical trials.

“Well clinical trials will need to be done to show that it is effective and that will take some time,” he explained. “We will have some vaccine available this year, but it all depends on….it will depend on the authorities, the FDA and others to decide whether it can be used earlier before clear efficacy data are available.”

“We’re moving at record speed.”—Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Former FDA Commissioner, on the rapid global mobilization and collaboration in response to #COVID19. Watch to learn more as Dr. Hamburg speaks about the steps the scientific community is taking to develop and scale a vaccine. pic.twitter.com/tgPXHdpQay

— Johnson & Johnson (@JNJNews) May 1, 2020

Dr. Stoffel said the company hopes to have clinical trial data by the end of the year.

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