The White House says it is working to accelerate early production of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine

(Reuters) – The Biden administration is exploring every option to increase production of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently under review by regulatory agencies, and said on Friday that currently expected levels of early doses were lower than hoped.

The White House has appealed to the Defense Production Act to help Pfizer Inc ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines and that “every option” was on the table to produce more Johnson & Johnson vaccines if this were to become approved.

It will also use its wartime powers to increase COVID-19 testing at home and make more surgical gloves in the United States, officials said during a media briefing on Friday.

“As is the case with other vaccines, we have not found that the level of production allows us to have as much vaccine as we think we need to get out of the gate,” said Andy Slavitt, senior advisor of COVID-19 at the White. House. response team, referring to the J&J vaccine.

J&J applied for a US emergency use permit on Thursday. It expects to have a vaccine ready for distribution as soon as it is approved, but has not said how many.

Emergent Biosolutions Chief Executive Robert Kramer said in an interview on Friday that the company currently makes “bulk” pharmaceuticals for J&J. Emergent only produces bulk vaccines, which are then filled into syringes or bottles and packaged for shipment by another contractor.

Kramer said they were on track to make enough product for hundreds of millions of doses per year. It remains unclear what other bottlenecks in the supply could be. Kramer said his company had already taken advantage of the Defense Production Act under the Trump Administration, getting the company to the point where it was ready to leave.

Under the authority of the Defense Production Act, the government will assign priority ratings to two components important to Pfizer’s vaccine production: filling pumps and tangential flow filtration units, the officials said.

“We told you that when we heard of a bottleneck in the necessary equipment, supplies or technology related to the vaccine supply, we would step in and help, and we did exactly that,” said Tim Manning, the national supply chain coordinator. COVID-19 response.

The government will also rely on its powers under the Defense Production Act to expand COVID-19 tests at home with six unnamed manufacturers, with the goal of producing 61 million tests by the summer, Manning said.

It will also draw on its powers to increase the country’s supply of surgical gloves, which are made almost exclusively abroad.

Manning said the government will build factories making the raw materials for surgical gloves and help build factories in the United States to make the gloves.

By the end of the year, he said, the United States would be able to produce one billion gloves per month.

Officials have said that once J & J’s vaccine is approved, it would mean millions of additional doses would be available to states. The vaccine is single-use, unlike the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna Inc, and can be stored in the refrigerator.

Officials have hoped the ease of administering the J&J vaccine means states can immunize residents more quickly.