Agencies award $1B contract to produce vaccine candidate

The departments of Health and Human Services and Defense will pay Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson $1 billion to manufacture 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for use in clinical trials, or to vaccinate Americans if authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

Under the agreement, the government also could acquire additional doses to vaccinate up to 300 million people, the agencies said.