Why There Will Be Fewer Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccines Next Week

There will be 86% fewer Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses allocated to states next week, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show, highlighting the company's yo-yoing vaccine supply from week to week.

But next week's dip in supply isn't exactly the setback it appears to be.

It's the other side of a recent surge in Johnson & Johnson doses. The surge occurred because one of Johnson & Johnson's third party manufacturers was finally able to release its stockpile.

The company is called Catalent, and its facility in Indiana had been working on filling vaccine vials and readying them for distribution for a while. But it only recently got the Food and Drug Administration's blessing, officially adding it to J&J's supply chain and allowing its doses to be released to the public.