Johnson & Johnson To Give Poor Countries 500M Free COVID Vaccines

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Johnson & Johnson, which is in the third and final stage of its trial to develop a coronavirus vaccine, announced it will give up to 500 million doses of that vaccine to poorer countries around the world.

Johnson & Johnson did not specify which countries would get it for free.

Johnson & Johnson said it will know by the end of 2020 whether their vaccine works. Other pharma companies, such as Pfizer and Moderna, may have a vaccine ready even before that.

As Patch previously reported, if all goes well with this final trial, Johnson & Johnson anticipates the first batches of its COVID-19 vaccine will be available for emergency use in the United States in early 2021.

The free doses given to developing nations would be rolled out in the middle of next year, said the pharmaceutical giant, which has its global corporate headquarters in New Brunswick.

Johnson & Johnson partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to sign this landmark "Communiqué on Expanded Global Access" to make sure that "people everywhere have access (to the vaccine) —regardless of their income level."

Since the start of the pandemic, Johnson & Johnson has repeatedly said it will make its vaccine available on a not-for-profit basis.

This is all in the name of bringing the coronavirus pandemic to an end as quickly as possible.

Fifteen other pharmaceutical companies signed onto the pledge. They are: AstraZeneca; Bayer; bioMérieux; Boehringer Ingelheim; Bristol Myers Squibb; Eisai; Eli Lilly; Gilead; GSK; Johnson & Johnson; Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada); Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany; Novartis; Pfizer; Roche; and Sanofi, which all agreed to "help ensure global access to potential vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics that could help accelerate the end of the pandemic."

All of these companies are currently working on either a coronavirus vaccine or treatment. But Johnson & Johnson's trial, which involves 60,000 people, is the largest in the world, the New York Times reports.

Johnson & Johnson has enrolled up to 60,000 volunteers across three continents to take the vaccine. The study participants are 18 years old and older, "including significant representation from those that are over age 60," said Johnson & Johnson.

The trial includes those both with and without comorbidities and included participants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and the United States. In the U.S., this includes significant representation of Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian and Alaskan Native participants.

These voluntary participants are given a single vaccine dose of the vaccine compared to a placebo, and scientists study how well it does preventing COVID-19.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine would also require one shot instead of two.

Related: Johnson & Johnson Begins Final Trials Of Coronavirus Vaccine (Sept. 23)