Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it will have 20 million of the country’s first COVID-19 single-dose vaccines available by the end of March — leading New York City to vow door-to-door service soon for shut-ins.
“The big piece we want to get to is the literally in-home vaccination of folks who cannot leave their home — that really requires the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.
City Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said J&J’s testimony to a US House subcommittee on vaccine development earlier in the day suggests the Big Apple could start at-home vaccinations as early as next month.
“We will be ready very rapidly to do door-to-door in-home vaccinations for in-bound seniors over the month,” he said at the mayoral briefing.
“We hope in March if everything goes according to plan with the FDA and to do that based on the supply allocated by the federal government,” Chokshi said, referring to the federal approval that the J&J vaccine still needs.
City officials have called the J&J shot — which applied for approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 4 — a game-changer because it only requires a single dose and is much easier to store than its competitors’ vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson Veep Dr. Richard Nettles — joining execs from coronavirus vaccine manufacturers — told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that it has 4 million doses of its shot ready to ship now.
“We will have 20 million doses of the vaccine available by the end of March, and we’re prepared to ship immediately upon emergency authorization 4 million doses of the vaccine,” Nettles said.
By the end of June, the company expects to have 100 million doses ready.
Other manufacturers also gave a rundown of the total doses they expect to have available to the US.
By the end of March, Pfizer expects to have 120 million and Moderna 100 million. By the end of May, both companies expect to have 200 million, and Moderna should have 300 million by the end of July.
Novavax, which is yet to be approved, has said it will have 110 million doses in total for the US by the third quarter of the year.
And the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is in agreement to provide a total of 300 million doses.