US Preps For COVID-19 Mass Vaccination With $110 Million Spent On Needles And Syringes – Forbes

COVID-19 vaccines are in development, but to meet the demand of over 300 million doses, the ... [+] government is spending big on needles and syringes.

The U.S. government is getting its vaccine supplies ready in anticipation of a working cure. Two separate orders signed off on May 1, 2020, total $100 million and specify needles and syringes for a COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Campaign.

One $27.5 million order went to Colorado-based Marathon Medical, the other $83.7 million to Texan business Retractable Technologies. The orders were placed by the Health and Human Services (HHS) departments Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

The orders come as a raft of different vaccines are under development and testing. The U.S. government has backed a handful, including a $450 million deal with Johnson & Johnson arm Janssen Pharmaceutical for its COVID-19 cure. That vaccine could be ready by early 2021.

Oxford Universitys vaccine could be given to millions of people even earlier. AstraZenecas chief executive, Pascal Soriot, suggested toward the end of last week that the cure could be ready for a limited rollout before the close of 2020. That would be a remarkable turnaround, given that vaccine testing and release can take over a decade.

Its unclear just how many needles and syringes have been ordered. Its estimated as many as 300 million will need to be inoculated in the U.S., but a report in the New York Times last week cited industry sources expressing concern about Americas urgency to produce the myriad parts required to deliver the medicine.

HHS announced at the end of March it was working with Janssen and Massachusetts-based Moderna on fast-tracking vaccine production. HHS said it would accelerate advanced clinical trials, regulatory support and large-scale manufacturing to produce up to 300 million doses of vaccine in the United States each year.

Neither HHS nor the manufacturers had responded to requests for more details on how many needles and syringes were being produced.

But the latest orders should go some way to alleviating concerns about preparedness to deliver vaccines to Americans.

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US Preps For COVID-19 Mass Vaccination With $110 Million Spent On Needles And Syringes - Forbes