| As millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson's newly authorized Covid-19 vaccine are distributed across the U.S., the company remains focused on accelerating and expanding supply. One way to do that is by tapping new manufacturing partners. On Tuesday, the White House announced it had facilitated a collaboration between J&J and its U.S. rival Merck to speed production of the single-shot vaccine. J&J Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky spoke with Bloomberg before the deal was clinched about plans to ramp up doses, pursue R&D and assure wary Americans that the shot is effective. Q: What do you see as the role of a one-shot vaccine in the U.S. immunization campaign? Gorsky: The impact that a single-dose vaccine can have on access and distribution around the world just can't be overstated. All the vaccines have been shown to be incredibly safe, incredibly effective. Now that we have that kind of a profile with a single dose that requires standard refrigeration, and a not-for-profit price, we think that that will significantly reduce some of the administrative and logistical challenges associated with the vaccine administration. That's particularly true in the U.S. when you think about rural areas, but equally as important when you get outside to the developing world.  Alex Gorsky Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg Q: Following the U.S. clearance, J&J began delivering 3.9 million doses, and expects to ship 20 million by the end of the month and 100 million by the end of June. How are you working to increase the pace of production? Gorsky: This kind of a ramp-up never, or rarely, is what I would call a linear shot. There are almost always going to be unanticipated challenges along the way. Things that we particularly pay attention to [for increasing capacity], No. 1, is the actual production of our drug substance. This is manufacturing the virus itself, because we're using a vector and adenovirus and inserting a portion of the spike protein. The second major step is actually filling the vial. What's interesting to note in this case is one of our facilities, it was literally a parking lot 12 months ago. And today it's one of the most advanced bio-pharmaceutical vaccine manufacturing facilities in the world. We've learned along the way. Q: At first blush, J&J's shot may appear less effective than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Public health officials have assured that no one vaccine is better than the others. How are you thinking about communicating its benefit to ensure people take it? Gorsky: I can certainly understand their confusion because there was a lot of data. It's important to put all of that data and information into context. Consider that our trial was done really at likely the most challenging time of this pandemic, as the incidence rates around the world were at some of their highest levels, and we still able to demonstrate very strong overall efficacy rates, but particularly in the severe cases where we saw efficacy rates higher than 80%. Getting those kinds of results with a single-shot administration with minimal refrigeration that hopefully will improve access around the world.
Q: J&J is also studying a two-dose regimen. What's the game plan if that proves to be even more effective?
Gorsky: We're very confident in the results that we've seen [from the single dose] in getting very robust protection against the most virulent and pernicious strains of the virus. But we also feel responsible to see what that might portend for the future. If we see these variants continuing to mutate, we could be in a position where everyone, whether you've received a Pfizer or a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine, may need an additional vaccination, perhaps one, two years out. We will have to see what the science shows over time. We expect [data from the two-dose regimen] in the second half of the year. | 
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