COVID-19 vaccine makers pledge massive supply increase

Coronavirus vaccine developers told House members Tuesday they plan to dramatically increase deliveries in the coming weeks.

Executives from Pfizer and Moderna, the only two companies that have so far received emergency vaccine authorization from the U.S. government, said they will be able to deliver more than 130 million additional doses combined by the end of March.

The companies said they are no longer facing shortages of raw materials and have largely solved the manufacturing challenges that limited the initial production and resulted in bottlenecks, as demand has far outstripped supply.

The numbers: John Young, Pfizer’s chief business officer, told lawmakers the company is on track to make a total of 120 million doses available for shipment by the end of March, and an additional 80 million doses by the end of May. It’s a major increase: Pfizer has only shipped approximately 40 million doses to date.

Moderna has said it will also supply 100 million doses by the end of March. Moderna has shipped about 45 million doses as of this week, leaving 55 million, or more than 10 million per week, to reach its goal of 100 million by March 31.

J&J coming soon: Richard Nettles, an executive at Johnson & Johnson, said the company will have 4 million doses ready to ship immediately if and when the shot is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The White House told governors on Tuesday that they should expect about 2 million doses of the J&J shot to be shipped as early as next week, pending authorization.

The big challenge: Getting vaccines delivered is not the same as getting them administered. State health systems have felt the strain of the massive vaccine push, and supply concerns have led some to cancel appointments for second vaccinations. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, a little more than 65 million doses have been administered, while 82 million doses have been delivered.