Johnson & Johnson announced Monday that it has concluded a billion-dollar deal with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity to provide more than a billion doses of vaccine being tested to fight the emerging corona virus, which has killed at least 34,000 people worldwide.
Al-Hurra reported that the company has chosen the main vaccine it developed, and human testing will begin on it by September, indicating that it may be available for emergency use at the beginning of 2021.
The company explained that the first batches of the vaccine may be available under an emergency use license at the beginning of next year, which is a much faster period than the 18 months necessary to conduct testing, approval and production of vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson also revealed that it has committed to allocating more than $ 1 billion in investment alongside the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a government agency, to co-finance research related to vaccine development, extending previous cooperation.
The company said that in January it began working on a possible vaccine against the emerging corona, using the same technology that was used to develop the experimental Ebola vaccine.
Companies and universities launched an attempt to develop a vaccine that protects people from the virus.