Johnson & Johnson was tasked with producing the COVID-19 vaccine at a Baltimore plant, where 15 million doses were destroyed several weeks ago.
What happened: The US Department of Health and Human Services has put Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) responsible for Emergent BioSolutions Inc (NYSE: EBS) plant in Baltimore. The department also prevented the British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ: AZN) to use the facilities to avoid future errors, reports Reuters.
The plant will now produce only a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 single dose vaccine.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson confirmed the action and said it was “taking full responsibility for the manufacture of the drug substance” at Emergent.
“Specifically, the company is adding dedicated leaders for operations and quality, and significantly increasing the number of manufacturing, quality and technical operations personnel to work with the company’s experts who are already at Emergent,” said Johnson & Johnson.
Johnson & Johnson has already strengthened its control over the work of Emergent BioSolutions to prevent additional quality lapses.
AstraZeneca said it will work with the administration of US President Joe Biden to find an alternative location for the production of its vaccine, which has not yet been authorized in the United States.
The move comes after disclosure that emerging workers accidentally mixed the ingredients of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines several weeks ago, contaminating up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This caused regulators to delay authorization for vaccine production at the facility.
Emergent is a manufacturing partner for AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
Why does it matter: According to the New York Times, American officials are concerned that the accident at the emerging plant could dampen public confidence in vaccines.
The confusion delayed future shipments of doses from Johnson & Johnson to the United States, while the FDA is investigating the incident.
Federal officials still hope to have enough doses of Johnson & Johnson and the other two coronavirus vaccine manufacturers approved to fulfill Biden’s commitment to provide enough vaccine to immunize all adults by the end of May.
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