(Reuters) – The United States put Johnson and Johnson in charge of a factory that destroyed 15 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine and prevented British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc from using the facility, a senior health official said on Saturday.
J&J said it was “taking full responsibility” for Emergent BioSolutions’ facilities in Baltimore, reiterating that it will deliver 100 million doses to the government by the end of May.
The Department of Health and Human Services facilitated the move, the health official said in an e-mail, asking not to be named due to the delicacy of the matter.
AstraZeneca, whose vaccine has not been approved in the United States, said it will work with President Joe Biden’s administration to find an alternative location to produce its vaccine.
White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The development, first reported by the New York Times, makes AstraZeneca’s efforts in the United States even more difficult. The government criticized the drugmaker for using outdated data in the results of its vaccine test. Subsequently, he revised his study.
Workers at the Emergent BioSolutions factory several weeks ago combined ingredients for the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines, the Times said earlier in the week. J&J said at the time that the ruined lot had not advanced to the filling and finishing stage.
The government’s decision to make the facility produce only the single-dose J&J vaccine is aimed at avoiding future confusion, the Times said, citing two senior federal health officials.
The U.S. infectious doctor told Reuters on Thursday that the country may not need the AstraZeneca vaccine, even if it does get approval.
The United States has loan agreements to send about 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made at its facilities in the United States, to Mexico and Canada.
Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Vishal Vivek in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio and William Mallard