The US Awarded a Firm $1.3 Billion to Make Syringes. Where Are They?

A year after a Connecticut company was awarded almost $1.3 billion in federal loans and contracts to supply an essential syringe for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, no syringes have been made. The syringe hasn't received even the first of a series of approvals it needs from the federal government before it can be manufactured, and a factory promising 650 jobs remains unbuilt, NBC News reports.

ApiJect Systems Corp. positioned itself as the company that would make the difference between a stumbling rollout and delivery of lifesaving vaccines. But as the U.S. vaccine rollout hits full stride, with about half of adults in the U.S. having already received at least one injection, the need for ApiJect's device has waned, leaving the contracts and loans in question.

The company said in a statement to NBC News that it "is working with several vaccine pharmaceutical companies to conduct the testing and regulatory reviews of COVID-19 vaccines in the ApiJect syringe."

However, a spokesperson for one of the vaccine makers Pfizer, said that even if ApiJect's syringe got all the necessary approvals from the Food and Drug Administration, it would "not have any impact on our output or process." Moderna didn't respond to a request for comment, and Johnson & Johnson declined to comment.