J&J says Covid-19 vaccine still on track despite manufacturing snafu

J&J says Covid-19 vaccine still on track despite manufacturing snafu

 

Johnson & Johnson said last week it still expects to meet its commitments for the promised delivery of an additional 24 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in April, even after a quality problem at one of the company's contract manufacturers resulting in the contamination of 15 million potential doses.   The Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore was making coronavirus vaccines under contract to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Last month, a batch of Johnson & Johnson "drug product" failed quality control and was taken out of production, both J&J and Emergent have said.   In a statement emailed to CNN, Emergent said its quality control systems caught the batch that "did not meet specifications and our rigorous quality standards" before it got any further. The company said it isolated the material and will dispose of it.   The federal government has directed Johnson & Johnson to fully take over its vaccine production at the plant, an administration official told CNN Saturday. The US Department of Health and Human Services directed that the AstraZeneca vaccine will now be produced at another plant, although the official did not specify where.