Biden administration seeks to boost Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing to increase global supply

By Kaitlan Collins and Betsy Klein, CNN

The Biden administration is seeking to boost Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing to increase the global vaccine supply, particularly in developing nations, as the US continues its efforts to share more vaccines abroad.

“We are prepared to offer vaccine manufacturers who have demonstrated the capability to make mRNA vaccines substantial government resources to help them expand their domestic infrastructure and capacity (such as facilities, equipment, staff, or training) in order to make an additional 1 billion doses of vaccine available per year,” an administration official said.

The official added, “In the short term, this would make a significant amount of Covid-19 vaccine doses available at cost for global use, and in the long term, it would help establish sustained domestic manufacturing capacity to rapidly produce vaccines for future threats. We hope companies will take us up on this plan to help get more people here at home and around the world vaccinated.”

The New York Times first reported the effort by the Biden administration.

The US Department of Health and Human Services intends to issue a “request for information” to private companies soliciting their feedback on the best way to proceed. The administration is looking to move quickly and hopes to have responses within 30 days of the request. It would essentially be the federal government subsidizing these efforts to produce a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna by the middle of next year, an official said.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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