2 March 2021 - - US-based healthcare supply chain management solutions company McKesson has begun distributing the COVID-19 vaccine received from US-based Johnson and Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc business, the company said.

McKesson is a centralized distribution partner for the US government's COVID vaccine distribution effort.

The Janssen vaccine received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 27 and is the first one-shot COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized for use in the United States.

McKesson was selected by the US government in August 2020 to operate as the centralized distributor for frozen and refrigerated COVID-19 vaccines and ancillary supply kits needed to administer them.

In December 2020, McKesson began distributing the ancillary supply kits for Pfizer BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Later that month, the company began distributing Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine and ancillary supply kits.

McKesson has established four dedicated distribution centers which will be specifically used to distribute the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and future refrigerated vaccines.

The US government makes all program administration decisions, including where, when and how many vaccine doses McKesson will distribute.

McKesson is a healthcare supply chain management solutions, retail pharmacy, community oncology and specialty care, and healthcare information solutions company.