Johnson & Johnson officer says goal is to deliver 1 billion coronavirus vaccines next year

A Johnson & Johnson executive said Sunday that the company’s goal is to deliver 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine next year.

Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer, told ABC’s “This Week” that Johnson & Johnson is increasing its manufacturing and preparing for clinical trials in September. He hopes to have data and start developing the vaccines at the end of the year.

“We are upscaling manufacturing, and we start producing in the late year with the aim to deliver 1 billion vaccines next year,” he said.

Dr. Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson chief scientific officer, says COVID-19 is spreading “so fast” around the world and it won’t pass without a vaccine.

Clinical trials begin in September with “the aim to deliver 1 billion vaccines next year,” he adds. https://t.co/6djLPlt9j1 pic.twitter.com/72kgtLA0Hg

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 10, 2020

“This Week” host George Stephanopoulos asked Stoffels if it was “realistic” to hope for a vaccine to fight COVID-19 this year.

The scientific officer responded that clinical trials, that are necessary to show the vaccine works, “take some time.” But he said a vaccine may be available this year, depending on if officials from the Food and Drug Administration rule the vaccine could be used before there is full data on its effectiveness.

{mosads}Stephanopoulos also asked Stoffels if the pandemic will pass without a vaccine,.

“We are hoping it will,” Stoffels responded, but added, “we don’t think so.”

“It’s now spreading around the world so fast and so significant that they will need a vaccine to control it,” he said.

President Trump questioned on Friday whether a vaccine would be necessary to stop the pandemic, saying “at some point it will probably go away by itself.”

The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 1.3 million people in the U.S., leading to at least 78,855 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.