Johnson & Johnson

FDA: 60M J&J Vaccine Doses From Troubled Baltimore Plant Must Be Tossed

The plant was shuttered in April after an inspection revealed several violations, including possible contamination of J&J’s vaccines

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

U.S. regulators are forcing Johnson & Johnson to throw out millions of doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine produced at a troubled Baltimore factory after deeming them "not suitable for use."

The Food and Drug Administration confirmed to NBC News that it told Emergent BioSolutions, the plant making the vaccines for J&J, to destroy about 60 million doses of the COVID-19 shot.

The FDA announced in a statement it had determined that two batches from the plant could be released. The salvaged batches, which account for about 10 million doses, will be distributed with a warning that the FDA cannot guarantee they were produced using good manufacturing practices, according to the New York Times, which first reported on the unusable dose.

Additional batches are still under review.

The doses that originated at the Emergent BioSolutions plant, known as Bayview, would be the first from the factory approved for use. J&J doses that have been administered came from other plants.

Emergent is one of several contractors for J&J that produces its one-shot vaccine in bulk. The concentrated vaccine then is shipped to other factories for final steps, including diluting them to the correct strength, putting them in vials and packaging them up.

Roughly 100 million doses made from bulk vaccine produced at Emergent’s factory had been set aside for additional testing by FDA staff after factory employees accidentally contaminated a batch.

That contamination led the FDA to shut down the factory in mid-April and send in a team of inspectors. They spent a week going through the factory and reviewing security camera footage that showed employees carelessly handling vaccine materials. The inspectors reported unsanitary conditions, poorly trained employees and other problems.

The lapses have hampered J&J's efforts to be a major player in vaccinating people, particularly in remote areas and poor countries, given that it’s the only drugmaker with an authorized vaccine that only requires one dose and standard refrigeration.

After a nearly two-week pause, health officials have urged the CDC to resume distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

The problems forced J&J to import millions of doses from its factory in the Netherlands and to miss supply commitments.

Emergent’s factory had a history of FDA citations for problems including mold, dirty walls and floors, poorly trained employees and an inadequate strategy to prevent contamination, yet it was given a huge role in COVID-19 vaccine production by the Trump administration. Emergent was handed a lucrative contract to make many millions of COVID-19 vaccines for both J&J and AstraZeneca at the Bayview factory.

Emergent’s chief executive has blamed the contamination and other problems on the complexity of scaling up the factory in just months to make two different vaccines.

The Biden administration is working to find a different American manufacturing partner for the British drugmaker, which has yet to request authorization to distribute it in the U.S.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us