A processing accident at a Baltimore facility caused the “ruin” of approximately 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine, causing authorities to postpone the plant’s production lines. The New York Times writes it. Federal authorities attributed the incident to human error: plant workers allegedly confused the ingredients of the J&J vaccine with those of AstraZeneca a few weeks ago. The facility is managed by Emergent BioSolutions, a partner of Johnson & Johnson itself and of AstraZeneca.
What happened led to a halt to the planning of future deliveries of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses in the US, while the Food and Drug Administration investigates the incident. The measures do not involve the vaccine batches already distributed in the US, as they are produced in the Netherlands according to methods approved by the American federal authorities. Johnson & Johnson itself has strengthened its quality controls at the Emergent BioSolutions facility. Evident embarrassment at Johnson & Johnson, on whose single-dose vaccine there are expectations and hopes for an acceleration of the US immunization program.
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