FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced that it has received pandemic orders for needles and syringes totaling 2 billion injection devices to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

This new milestone reflects commitments to governments across the world, including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom, among many others, as well as non-governmental organizations supporting vaccine deployment for developing countries. In total, BD is supporting pandemic orders for more than 40 countries, non-governmental organizations and other partners.  

"Expanding vaccination efforts are bringing restored hope and a long-awaited return to normalcy in multiple countries around the world," said Rick Byrd, president of Medication Delivery Solutions for BD. "We are committed to continuing to support government partners and non-governmental organizations in these efforts to ensure health care providers on the front lines of this crisis have these much-needed injection devices to protect their patients from COVID-19."

BD has delivered more than 900 million injection devices around the world to date, with the remaining orders to be delivered between now and the end of 2022 to support vaccine administration. These devices are being shipped to governments or appointed distribution partners where they will then be distributed to health care facilities based on each country's individual distribution and allocation strategy. BD continues to be in discussions with government agencies and non-governmental organizations on the need to plan ahead to ensure supply availability and place orders for delivery in late 2022 and into the future.

As part of its efforts, BD continues to closely plan supply capabilities to help ensure maximum volumes can be dedicated to COVID-19 efforts, while minimizing disruption for routine health care, annual flu vaccinations and childhood immunization programs.

BD has also announced multiple capital investments to expand capacity for vaccination injection devices for COVID-19 and future pandemics. These include:

• Partnering with the U.S. government on a $70 million capital project to further expand BD's operations and manufacturing capacity in Nebraska. Once it is completed this summer, the federal government will have priority access to hundreds of millions of injection devices to support vaccination efforts for COVID-19 and future pandemics.

• Adding new manufacturing lines for injection devices in the company's Fraga, Spain manufacturing facility. When these lines ramp up now through 2022 it will increase output of these devices by nearly 500 million per year to support COVID-19 and other efforts, mainly for markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as for non-governmental organizations.

• Investing $1.2 billion over four years to expand and upgrade BD's manufacturing capacity and technology for pre-fillable syringes and advanced drug delivery systems to allow for continued growth of new injectable drugs and vaccines. This will also provide surge capacity for increased pre-fillable syringe demand during times of pandemic response.

For this critical role and commitment to support vaccination efforts globally, BD was recently recognized at the 2021 World Vaccine Congress' Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards as the "Best Production/Process Development." The award recognized BD for its ability to extend its capacity to provide disposable syringes and pre-fillable syringes required for COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as its range of solutions covering the entire vaccine development.

BD is the largest manufacturer of injection devices in the world, producing multiple billions of syringes and needles annually through its global manufacturing network. To learn more about BD's vaccination preparedness efforts, visit bd.com/vaccination.

About BD
BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 70,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com or connect with us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/bd1 and Twitter @BDandCo.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding BD's manufacturing operations and capacity. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements, many of which are beyond the company's control, as discussed in BD's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BD expressly disclaims any undertaking to update any such statements set forth herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by applicable laws or regulations.

SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)