BREAKING: Merck Throws Manufacturing Might Behind Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

[PeteS in CA]

BREAKING: Merck Throws Manufacturing Might Behind Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2021/03/02/breaking-merck-throws-manufacturing-might-behind-johnson-johnson-vaccine/

Great news, especially given the disappointment from having Merck sidelined in the COVID-19 vaccine sweepstakes. The manufacturing potential in this partnership could push Johnson & Johnson to the vanguard of the herd-immunity effort:

President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday that Merck & Co. will help manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine, a senior administration official confirmed to NBC News.

The agreement could boost supply of the vaccine, which is being delivered to states this week after gaining federal approval for distribution to the public. …

The deal between the two major pharmaceutical companies, first reported by The Washington Post, was brokered by the Biden administration after officials found out that Johnson & Johnson had fallen behind in its production of its vaccine.

There's some BS mixed in with this article (getting vaccines to states is NOT a problem; states getting the vaccines they have on hand to people wanting vaccination is a problem in some states), but if this agreement was entirely negotiated by Biden's team, it is an accomplishment, and if states all finally get their @#$% together, a significant accomplishment. Because of the timing of Merck's recent announcement that they were discontinuing their Covid vaccine effort, https://www.merck.com/news/merck-discontinues-development-of-sars-cov-2-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-continues-development-of-two-investigational-therapeutic-candidates/ , it is very possible that this negotiation was entirely by Biden's team.

Two Merck facilities will be used. One does fill-finish, basically filling the vials used at vaccination sites - not insignificant, and this could have near- and short-term impact if J & J's fill-finish site is not keeping pace with vaccine production. The other Merck site will produce the vaccine, and it will take time to set up and produce the vaccine. So the impact of this facility won't be noticeable in the near-term.

[Hoodat]

getting vaccines to states is NOT a problem; states getting the vaccines they have on hand to people wanting vaccination is a problem in some states

That is because the objective in those States has never been getting the vaccines to people who want vaccines.  It has been getting the vaccines to people the State wants to have the vaccine.  When the desires of the State supersede the desires of the People, it is the people that suffer.

[The_Reader_David]

This is good news.  If public health authorities are sensible, in view of both the convenience and lower cost, and of the lower efficacy, of the J&J vaccine, they will start parallel vaccination programs:  Pfizer and Moderna for over 55s and people with conditions that put them at either severely or moderately increased risk, and J&J for everyone else 18 to 55.  (I pick 55 because there's where the case fatality rate jumps up in the by-age data for my county in Kansas.)

[libertybele]

This is good news.  If public health authorities are sensible, in view of both the convenience and lower cost, and of the lower efficacy, of the J&J vaccine, they will start parallel vaccination programs:  Pfizer and Moderna for over 55s and people with conditions that put them at either severely or moderately increased risk, and J&J for everyone else 18 to 55.  (I pick 55 because there's where the case fatality rate jumps up in the by-age data for my county in Kansas.)

Nope.  I think people should be able to select which vaccine they want.  Government should NOT decide for them, nor should the vaccine be mandated.  Also, health insurance companies should cover the cost of either of the vaccines.

Recently every time I or my husband have gone to our pharmacy to get a refill on our prescriptions, we have been given a generic by another manufacturer. I can attest that not all generics are the same, and I have demanded that the manufacturer that has produced our meds for quite some time remain our manufacturer of choice. Substituting meds because of cost is not acceptable in my books; especially when it comes to heart medications.

[PeteS in CA]

Merck to Help Produce Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine; BARDA to Provide Merck With Funding to Expand Merck’s Manufacturing Capacity for COVID-19 Vaccines and Medicines

https://www.merck.com/news/merck-to-help-produce-johnson-barda-to-provide-merck-with-funding-to-expand-mercks-manufacturing-capacity-for-covid-19-vaccines-and-medicines/

KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today it has entered into multiple agreements to support efforts to expand manufacturing capacity and supply of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 medicines and vaccines. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will provide Merck with funding of up to $268.8 million to adapt and make available a number of existing manufacturing facilities for the production of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccines and medicines. Merck has also entered into agreements with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to support the manufacturing and supply of Johnson & Johnson’s SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine. Merck will use its facilities in the United States to produce drug substance, formulate and fill vials of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
...
Under the terms of the BARDA agreement, Merck will adapt and make available some of the company’s existing manufacturing sites to accelerate manufacturing efforts for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccines and medicines. ...

While a fill-and-finish facility might not require much adaptation, it sounds like the adaptation necessary to produce the actual vaccine may be pretty significant. Other than possibly relieving a backlog at J & J's fill-and-finish facility(ies) the effects of this agreement are probably at least a couple of months out.

This agreement still seems worthwhile to me, but I think ass-kicking lagging states into getting their vaccination efforts in gear would have been of much greater and more immediate value.

[Gefn]

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[PeteS in CA]

... if this agreement was entirely negotiated by Biden's team, it is an accomplishment, ... . Because of the timing of Merck's recent announcement that they were discontinuing their Covid vaccine effort, https://www.merck.com/news/merck-discontinues-development-of-sars-cov-2-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-continues-development-of-two-investigational-therapeutic-candidates/ , it is very possible that this negotiation was entirely by Biden's team.
...

Looks like the Biden team finished negotiations begun under Trump, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/operation-warp-speed-doc-90-of-biden-vaccine-rollout-plan-was-same-as-trumps :

(Slaoui) also revealed that Operation Warp Speed had held talks with Merck – a competitor to Johnson & Johnson – prior to the new administration taking office about the possibility of utilizing their facilities to bolster the manufacture of the vaccine.

At the time I posted this thread I suspected the possibility that OWS people knew of Merck's upcoming cancellation of their vaccine and might have begun discussions that Biden people completed. It's the kind of attention to manufacturing capacity and logistics OWS showed over the months leading up to the approvals of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.