The US government on Saturday stopped a Baltimore manufacturing plant that ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine from making the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc, the New York Times reported.
J&J said in a statement that it was “assuming full responsibility regarding the manufacturing of drug substance for its Covid-19 vaccine at the Emergent BioSolutions Inc. Bayview facility.”
It did not specify if it will take over the plant.
The New York Times reported that AstraZeneca said in a statement it will work with President Joe Biden’s administration to find an alternative site. The drugmaker did not respond to a request for comment.
The move by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ will render the Emergent BioSolutions facility solely devoted to making the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, and is meant to avoid future mix-ups, according to the newspaper report, which cites two senior federal health official.
As we reported earlier, seven people have died from unusual blood clots after getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK. In total, 30 people out of 18 million vaccinated by 24 March had these clots.
