American drugmaker Merck to help produce J&J's Covid-19 vaccine: Biden

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and the federal government to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production.

This comes days after the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) announced that it had approved the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine for emergency use in the US in individuals 18 years of age and older.

Delivering his remarks at the White House, Biden announced the partnership: "Two of the largest health care and pharmaceutical companies in the world that are usually competitors are working together on the vaccine."

"This type of collaborations between the countries we have seen in World War II. We have also invoked the defence production act to equip Merck facilities to safely manufacture the J & J vaccine," he added

Biden said that because of a stepped-up production process, the United States will have enough novel coronavirus vaccines for every American adult by the end of May.

"This country will have enough vaccines supply for every adult in America by the end of May," Biden said on Tuesday.

The United States has reported more than 28.7 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and over 514,000 reported deaths. The demand for vaccines still far exceeds supply and these vaccines can't come soon enough.

The official emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson's (J & J) single-dose vaccine comes after an FDA advisory panel voted 22-0 to recommend authorization on Friday.