As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the U.S., Johnson & Johnson's chief scientific officer Dr. Paul Stoffels told Cheddar the company has an accelerated plan to create a vaccine.
"At the moment, we predict that we can get north of one billion vaccine dosages in the course of 2021 and even much more afterward," he said.
The company is currently running clinical trials on animals and expects to move to human testing in late July. Stoffels describes the project as a "massive amount of parallel work" that was jumpstarted by a federal investment of $456 million.
Typically, developing a vaccine calls for one to three years of successful testing, but Johnson & Johnson expects to have an approved vaccine by early 2021. One challenge the company will face is locating a pocket of study subjects — between 30,000 and 100,000 people — that have potentially been exposed. The large study size is key for the pharmaceutical giant to meet its self-imposed timeline.
"The higher the transmission rate, the faster we can see the endpoint and we can prove efficacy," Stoffels told Cheddar.
The pharmaceutical giant's confidence in distributing the vaccine by early next year also lies in cell line technology, which has the capacity to create a massive number of doses.
"In a thousand-liter vessel, we can produce more than 150 million vaccines a year," he said.
Stoffels also keyed in on the need for urgency and additional preventative steps the world should take in light of the disease still sweeping the globe.
"Nobody expected such a pandemic happening," he said. "We have learned that we have to have much more public health measures in the world."
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
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