J&J vaccine: US looking at joint production with India

New Delhi, May 12: The United States is looking at joint production of the Johnson and Johnson vaccination against COVID-19 with India.

J&J is looking at manufacturers such as Serum Institute of India in a bid to ramp up vaccine production.

US chargй d'affaires Daniel Smith said the US stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines cannot be shared with other countries until the jabs are certified as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration.

"We are now working closely with them to go through this list to decide what is available, what we can provide and how quickly we can provide that. I just want to say this is not an easy task, that is, there are global challenges in the global supply chain right now when it comes to precursors and raw materials necessary for these vaccines," said Smith.

"I know Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is looking at how we can invest so that we can help produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine here in India," he also said.

"I think we are watching carefully the production levels at the SII and elsewhere. We've been in close touch with the SII to try to determine what raw materials we could provide, and assistance that we can provide to help boost production. But that's an issue with vaccines across the board, it's not simply with the AstraZeneca vaccine in that regard," Smith told Hindustan Times.