The United States government is set to enter into a contract with pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson to purchase 100 million doses of the company’s single-jab coronavirus vaccine, set to be administered during the second half of 2021.
According to CNBC, the U.S. President is expected to officially announce the deal during a White House meeting with executives from Johnson & Johnson and multinational pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. According to the terms of the deal, Johnson & Johnson is set to deliver the 100 million doses by the end of June.
This may prove to be a challenge for the pharmaceutical giant, which has been reported to be low on inventory as of late. In order to overcome this issue, Merck & Co. has agreed to assist in the production of the vaccine doses.
This will not be the first time that the United States government has ordered vaccines from J&J. Last week, the United States received approximately 3.9 million doses of the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, with 16 million more expected to be distributed by the end of this month.
Following the announcement of this deal, Johnson & Johnson shares rose by 1.1% to $159.51 in market trading hours by end of day on Wednesday.
