President Trump has been hesitant about enforcing the Defense Production Act (DPA) which allows the government to force companies to make products for the defense of the country. He feels it’s an overreach of his authority. The president believes that the private sector could, and should, fulfill the needs of Americans at all times, including during a crisis — voluntarily.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is proving that if we allow businesses to run as per usual, we don’t need big government to take care of the people.
Johnson & Johnson announces $1 billion deal with the U.S. government to create enough manufacturing capacity to make more than 1 billion doses of a vaccine to stop the new coronavirus https://t.co/NCrCeSDVHl pic.twitter.com/5Zmx7Zem8w
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) March 30, 2020
The pharmaceutical giant has secured a $1 billion government contract to produce one billion doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 — when there is one. J&J is one of several companies researching a possible vaccine and hopes to have one ready for human testing later this year and fast-tracked approval in early 2021.
So why the big contract now?
The government contract will allow them to prepare manufacturing facilities and plans in advance, so no matter who discovers the coronavirus vaccine, J&J will be ready and waiting to go into immediate production.
