Johnson & Johnson, U.S. government plan one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) said on Monday it made a $1 billion deal with the U.S. government to create enough manufacturing capacity for more than 1 billion doses of a vaccine it is testing to fight the new coronavirus that has killed more than 34,000 people around the world.
Johnson and Johnson said that it had selected its own lead vaccine candidate and would start human testing of its experimental coronavirus vaccine by September, with an eye on having it ready for emergency use in early 2021, the drugmaker said on Monday.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-johnson-johnson/jj-u-s-government-plan-one-billion-doses-of-coronavirus-vaccine-idUSKBN21H1OY?il=0
one of many vaccines in development, a little bit of good news
= new reply since forum marked as read
Pharmaceutical companies HATE making vaccines because they claim they make no money off of them, so it's difficult to get companies to even bother... It's usually the same song and dance each year trying to get someone to even make the flu vaccine.
It's just that it maybe caught people's attention because of the severity of what is going on right now.... This is how ANY vaccine gets out to the U.S. population - every year.
For example, back when the "bird flu" was in circulation (H5N1), HHS awarded a contract for that vaccine development/distribution -
Filed Under: Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Influenza Vaccines
By: Robert Roos | Sep 21, 2004
Sep 21, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – In a bid to limit the threat of an influenza pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is awarding a contract to Aventis Pasteur Inc. to make 2 million doses of a vaccine for humans to protect against H5N1 avian influenza.
"The vaccine that is being made is designed to match the H5N1 influenza virus that has killed 29 people in Thailand and Vietnam this year," HHS officials said in a news release. "If a pandemic of avian influenza virus H5N1 occurred in humans, the new vaccine would be used to protect laboratory workers, public health personnel, and, if needed, the general public."
The H5N1 virus caused widespread poultry outbreaks in East Asia this year. Disease experts fear that if the virus infected humans or pigs already carrying a human flu virus, the viruses might combine to form a new strain that could spread easily from person to person. All of the 40 human cases of H5N1 infection this year are believed to have resulted from exposure to birds, not from person-to-person transmission.
"This is an important step toward preparing our nation to respond to a pandemic influenza outbreak," HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson stated in the news release. "The reemergence of the avian flu in Asia this year is another sign that we have to develop and produce vaccines against the threat of a pandemic flu. The United States is the first nation to undertake this preventive measure on this scale." HHS and Aventis listed the amount of the vaccine contract as "nearly $13 million."
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2004/09/hhs-awards-contract-h5n1-avian-flu-vaccine
virility drugs! 
