Supply Chain

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced this afternoon that the Biden administration supports waiving IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in the statement. Tai said the U.S. will actively participate in World Trade Organization text-based negotiations…

The percentage of people who failed to get the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is growing, according to recent CDC data. Some five million people, or almost 8% of people who got the first vaccine dose, missed getting the second. In mid-March, 3% of people were overdue for their second dose. People…

For any vaccine, some degree of waste is expected. The problem is inspiring supply-chain companies to explore new technologies that can address a longstanding struggle. “Before COVID-19, we often saw waste of about 8–10%,” said Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO of Cold Chain Technologies, which provides insulated packaging for drugs and biologics. A 2019 World Health Organization report citing…

Johnson & Johnson will cut COVID-19 vaccine shipments by 86% in the coming week, according to CDC projections. The week of April 5, the company shipped nearly 5 million doses. Next week, that figure could fall to approximately 700,000.  The company anticipates that it can eventually deliver up to 8 million doses weekly, assuming FDA authorizes…

Emergent BioSolutions was not prepared to take on the mammoth task of churning out millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to support U.S. efforts to end the pandemic, according to a report published today in The New York Times. Emergent was ill-equipped despite a $163 million federal contract to prepare the facility for high-volume production, according…

Sanofi announced today that it will spend €600 million ($685 million) on a new plant in Toronto to produce its differentiated influenza vaccines. The Paris-based pharma giant’s Fluzone high-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccine has four times more antigen than a standard-dose vaccine. The vaccine’s creators specifically designed it to provide superior protection against influenza for older…

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT)  to make 220 million COVID-19 vaccine doses available to the 55 African Union member countries. AVAT also has the potential to order an additional 180 million doses to bring the total to 440 million through…

After the number of COVID-19 infections began to incline steeply, India has decided to retain most of the vaccines produced in the country. The country has also announced plans to lower the eligibility requirements to all citizens 45 or older starting April 1. The Serum Institute of India is one of the world’s biggest vaccine…

The European Union announced plans to invoke emergency rules that could substantially reduce exports to the United Kingdom and other countries for six weeks. AstraZeneca, a central provider of vaccines to the European Union, had reduced EU projected shipments to the EU after encountering production delays at plants in Belgium and the Netherlands. AstraZeneca will…

Catalent will produce millions of extra doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine at its recently expanded Bloomington, Ind. facility, according to a statement posted on LinkedIn. Bloomberg broke the news yesterday, reporting that FDA has authorized the use of the facility to make the J&J vaccine. Catalent announced late last year that it would…