McKesson to distribute virus vaccine under existing US pact


McKesson Corp. will help spread a vaccine for the new coronavirus in the US, said President Donald Trump on Friday, as part of the government’s efforts to accelerate an impetus to the American public.

The company will be a central distributor of both faxes and related supplies needed to manage them, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The government is exercising an option in an existing contract with McKesson.

“Today’s announcement puts another building block in place as the nation moves toward a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said in the statement.

Fax distribution by McKesson contract with the government began in 2017 and has the potential to total more than $ 300 million, according to a federal spending database. The company has had similar contracts in the past, such as spreading the H1N1 vaccine in 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic.

The deal is part of Operation Warp Speed, the fax development program.

“We currently have three candidates in Phase 3 clinical trials and are on track to have more than 100 million doses of a vaccine before the end of the year and 500 million doses shortly thereafter,” Trump told reporters at a briefing of the White House. “We are logistically ready to disperse them – our army is ready.”

.