COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing in U.S. Races Ahead

Makers of COVID-19 vaccines are accelerating production and stepping up mass vaccination campaigns in the United States, reports the Wall Street Journal . Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna have boosted output by gaining experience, scaling up production lines, and generating raw materials by themselves. They also are partnering with other companies to raise production even further. Moreover, the U.S. government has helped vaccine manufacturers access supplies under the Defense Production Act. This month the Biden administration evoked the act to provide $105 million in funding to help Merck make doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and speed up materials used in its manufacture. Evercore ISI analysts project that monthly output for the three authorized vaccines in the U.S. should reach 132 million doses for March, nearly triple the 48 million last month. They also estimate that the higher output should be sufficient to fully inoculate 76 million Americans in March, another 75 million in April, and 89 million more in May.