Johnson & Johnson to take full control of its coronavirus vaccine production at Baltimore plant as AstraZeneca is relocated

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Sun, 2021-04-04 19:08 — mike kraft

Johnson & Johnson to take full control of its coronavirus vaccine production at Baltimore plant as AstraZeneca is relocated Contamination of doses at the facility will not impede the president’s goal of enough vaccine for every U.S. adult by end of May, Biden officials said. Amy Goldstein, Jon Swaine, Christopher Rowland Washington Post

The Biden administration said Sunday that the country will have sufficient coronavirus vaccine to meet the president’s goal of enabling every adult in the United States to get immunized by the end of May, despite the contamination of millions of doses at a troubled Baltimore manufacturing facility.

A senior administration official, granted anonymity to speak about the sensitive matter, said health officials had negotiated for more than a week for an arrangement, announced late Saturday, under which Johnson & Johnson would take over responsibility for manufacturing at the plant. Johnson & Johnson developed one of the two coronavirus vaccines being made at the Baltimore facility where the cross-contamination occurred.

Federal officials were working over the weekend to pin down another U.S. site where the other vaccine produced in the facility — developed by AstraZeneca — could be manufactured and already have identified potential locations.

Meanwhile, the company that owns the plant, Emergent BioSolutions, may be allowed to retain some of its employees in making the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as lon g as it relinquishes all control of the manufacturing and quality inspections, the official said. Emergent Biosolutions is a major government contractor.

The developments followed the news that a batch amounting to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was spoiled at the Emergent plant after being contaminated with ingredients for AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

The error was caught and no contaminated vaccine left the plant, according to the companies involved. No doses had shipped because the plant has not yet been certified by the Food and Drug Administration as a manufacturer of coronavirus vaccine. ...

On Sunday, the senior official said that, no matter what happens with the Baltimore plant or the manufacture of AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not authorized for U.S. use, “there is enough vaccine for all adult Americans who want it by May 31.” ...

ALSO SEE: U.S. puts J&J in charge of plant that botched COVID vaccine, removes AstraZeneca

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