Biden says there is ‘real reason for hope’ as he praises drugmakers’ vaccine deal

President Biden said Wednesday there is “real reason for hope” in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic while praising two pharmaceutical companies for coming together to produce more vaccine doses. 

“There is light at the end of this dark tunnel of the past year,” Biden said. “We cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable.”

Previewing his prime-time address to the nation on Thursday night, Biden said he is “going to talk about what comes next. I’m going to launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people.” 

The president made the remarks at the White House standing next to Alex Gorsky, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson, and Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck, during an event to celebrate the partnership between the two companies. Merck will help produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

“I want to thank the two companies for showing how we can come together and defeat this virus,” Biden said, adding they were putting “patriotism and public health first.” 

Biden reiterated an announcement earlier in the day that he is directing his administration to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  

The White House said that while there is already enough in the pipeline for every U.S. adult by the end of May, these extra doses could help vaccinate children or serve as booster doses if they become necessary to fight variants of the virus. 

“If we have a surplus, we’re going to share it with the rest of the world,” Biden added, noting that the U.S. has already committed $4 billion to Covax, the United Nations program for distributing the vaccine across the world. 

“This is not something that can be stopped by a fence, no matter how high you build a fence or a wall,” Biden said. “So we’re not going to be ultimately safe until the world is safe. We’re going to start off making sure Americans are taken care of first, but we’re then going to try to help the rest of the world.”

The drugmaker CEOs also heaped praise on the Biden administration, which helped broker the manufacturing deal and provided funding to help Merck convert its facilities.  

“In these extraordinary times, we are colleagues, not competitors,” Frazier said.  

The partnership is intended to help Johnson & Johnson overcome delays in its manufacturing schedule.

The company has said it will ramp up to 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million doses by the end of June.