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White House using Defense Production Act to equip Merck plants for Johnson & Johnson vaccine – Metro US

White House using Defense Production Act to equip Merck plants for Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Jen Psaki holds a press briefing at the White House
Jen Psaki holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States is using the Defense Production Act to equip drugmaker Merck & Co’s plants to make Johnson & Johnson’s just approved COVID-19 vaccine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.

“As soon as we learned about the fact that Johnson and Johnson was behind in the manufacturing steps and efforts we took steps to ensure we can expedite that and partner them with one of the world’s biggest manufacturers,” Psaki told a White House briefing.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Writing by Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)