The US government is seeking that companies accelerate vaccine manufacturing for COVID-19 and in preparation for future pandemics. The goal of the program is to expand existing capacity by an additional billion doses per year, with production starting by the second half of 2022.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is soliciting interest from companies that have experience manufacturing mRNA vaccines to identify opportunities to scale up their production capacity.

“We hope companies step up and act quickly to take us up on this opportunity to expand production of mRNA vaccines for the current pandemic and set us up to react quickly to any future pandemic threats,” Jeff Zients, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said at a White House press briefing on November 17, 2021.  

The goal of this program would also help the US produce doses within six to nine months of identification of a future pathogen and ensure enough vaccines for the US population. The program would combine the expertise of the US government in basic scientific research with the ability of pharmaceutical companies to manufacture mRNA vaccines.

The US wants to create the capability to have a billion doses of mRNA vaccine, with the first application to produce more COVID-19 vaccines. Then, according to Mr. Zients, the US will have the ability to produce mRNA vaccines for any future threat.

Source: White House