Nearly 15 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines delayed by factory mixup in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — A mixup at a Baltimore plant manufacturing two COVID-19 vaccines has caused approximately 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines to be ruined, forcing regulators to delay authorization of the plant’s production lines.

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The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, which partners with Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, The New York Times reported. Federal officials said human error was the reason for the delay.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will investigate the mixup, which will cause a delay in future shipments of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the newspaper reported. Johnson & Johnson officials said they are working to strengthen their control over Emergent BioSolutions’ processes to avoid further quality lapses.

The delay does not affect Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot doses that are currently being delivered and used nationally, the Times reported. Those doses were produced in the Netherlands.

However, the Baltimore plant had been set to deliver tens of millions of vaccines, so those deliveries are in flux as quality control issues are investigated, according to the Times.

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