Changer ‘| Inside the Baltimore Lab producing Johnson & Johnson vaccines, AstraZeneca COVID-19 – CBS Baltimore

Changer ‘| Inside the Baltimore Lab producing Johnson & Johnson vaccines, AstraZeneca COVID-19 – CBS Baltimore

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BALTIMORE (WJZ) – In an exclusive facility in southeastern Baltimore, Emergent BioSolutions employees worked hard within the large area of ​​the bioreactor where coronavirus vaccines – including the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine – will be produced for use in the United States.

“We actually cultivate the cell cultures, infect them with viral vectors and then purify the viral vectors, which elicits the immune response in humans,” said Sean Kirk, vice president of Emergent BioSolutions responsible for manufacturing.

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The company granted WJZ rare access within its secure campus in Bayview. Three hundred employees work there with dozens of others supporting the facility remotely.

“I want the people of Baltimore to be proud that the Emergent is here, to be proud of the fact that many residents work at this facility,” said Kirk. “Every day, our people are working long hours to beat this pandemic, and what keeps them motivated is the fact that we will be producing hundreds of millions of doses in the next year.”

Emergent has a $ 480 million contract with Johnson & Johnson and another $ 174 million contract with AstraZeneca.

The federal government has yet to approve vaccines for use across the country.

In late January, Johnson & Johnson released the results of its phase three test and said it plans to seek authorization for emergency use from the Food and Drug Administration.

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These results demonstrated 85% protection against severe coronavirus in adults of all ages and racial groups 28 days after vaccination. The overall effectiveness rate for preventing moderate to severe illness was 72% in the United States and 66% in all countries studied. The vaccine was 57% effective in preventing moderate to severe illnesses in South Africa, where a more contagious strain has spread rapidly through the population.

Maryland is the second state where the South African strain has been detected. There are at least three cases in Maryland: two in Montgomery County and one in the Baltimore area. The positive patient in the Baltimore area case was not infected during the trip, state health officials said.

The emergence of new strains means that vaccines are urgently needed.

People in Maryland and across the country are frustrated by the shortage of vaccines.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has some advantages. Requires only a single shot – and no special freezers.

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“Playing with a dose was certainly worth it,” said Dr. Mathai Mammen, head of global research at J&J Pharmaceuticals, J&J, to the Associated Press.

“You can get an injection of J&J and 10, 14 days later, you are already starting to have a substantial amount of protection,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading consultant for the president Joe Biden.

All COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, usually by detecting the spiny protein that surrounds it. But they are done in very different ways.

The Johnson & Johnson injection uses a cold virus like a Trojan horse to transport the spike gene to the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to prepare the immune system in case the real virus appears.

Johnson & Johnson said their vaccine works consistently for a wide range of people: a third of participants were over 60 and over 40% had other illnesses that put them at risk for severe COVID-19, including obesity, diabetes and HIV. The company insists the vaccine is safe, with reactions similar to other injections of COVID-19, such as the fever that occurs when the immune system is activated.

Maryland Vaccination Guide

Dr. David Marcozzi, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, adviser to Governor Larry Hogan, called the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a “game changer”

Emergent Biosolutions told WJZ that it is ready for the federal government to give the green light to emergency public use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. An advisory committee from the Food and Drug Administration will meet on February 26 to discuss the candidate vaccine.

It usually takes several weeks for the FDA to review the results of clinical trials.

Once approval comes, “nothing changes,” he told Hellgren. They are already producing the vaccine.

“We are totally open in manufacturing,” he said. “We have a significant opportunity to potentially save tens of thousands – hundreds of thousands – of lives in the coming months.”

Back at Emergent’s Bayview facility, the sterile bags that line the tanks can be easily exchanged for flexibility to make reinforcement injections or whatever else is needed.

At another Emergent facility, opposite the M&T Bank Stadium, the company signed a contract for the manufacture of lenzilumab, a possible treatment for COVID-19.

“There is an enormous amount of work in the fight for this battle behind the scenes at facilities like ours and other facilities in the industry to ensure that we collectively win this pandemic,” said Kirk.

Representatives from Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca are on site in Bayview and Kirk said the highest safety standards are being followed.

“The accelerated timelines in no way undermined the security that we incorporated into these products from the beginning,” said Kirk.

MORE: COVID in Maryland: 903 new cases, 23 deaths reported

For the latest information on coronavirus, go to the Maryland Department of Health website or call 211. You can find all WJZ coverage at coronavirus in Maryland here.

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