Human error destroys 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States

A Baltimore manufacturing plant destroys 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine after human error, Announced This Wednesday’s newspaper The New York Times.

The plant is operated by Emergency Bio Solutions, which in partnership with Johnson & Johnson & AstraZeneca manufactures vaccines against the corona virus for both pharmaceutical companies.

All 15 million doses were later eliminated The factory workers accidentally attached the wrong materials Several weeks ago. This error will cause delays in sending Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the states, while clarifying what happened to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, its abbreviation in English).

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Johnson & Johnson released a statement Wednesday that identified the problem, resolved the plant in question, and shared it with the FDA.

“Our quality control process has identified a batch of drugs that do not meet quality standards At Emergency Biosolutions, a site that has not yet been licensed to manufacture drugs for our COVID-19 vaccine, “said the pharmaceutical manufacturer.” This volume has never progressed to the completion and completion stages of our production process, ”he added.

As the pharmaceutical company explained, the affected block was never shipped to the states, or manufactured in the Netherlands, so there is no risk of the doses currently being administered in clinics and pharmacies around the United States.

The waste from these 15 million vaccines is not expected to affect President Joe Biden’s goal of delivering 200 million doses by May 1, although it will affect the supply chain, as it is estimated that all exports of the vaccine should be sent to the states by April. Tens of thousands of drugs will arrive from the Baltimore plant next month.

This mistake represents a major setback for Johnson & Johnson as federal officials hope it will help speed up the first single-dose carna virus vaccine and immunizations in the United States.

The FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use in late February. This is the third time it has been approved in the United States after Pfizer and Moderna, and requires two sizes.

The vaccine was developed by Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary, the Belgian pharmaceutical company Johnson. Phase 3 trials, with 40,000 participants over the age of 18, indicate that you have 72% overall effectiveness in preventing serious infections, I.e. preventing people from being admitted to the hospital or dying from the corona virus. Prevention is even higher during acute infections, 85%.

Medications can be stored for up to three months at refrigerator temperature, which makes them easier to handle than other vaccines and should be kept frozen.

The United States has been providing about three million vaccines a day for the past few days. On Monday, 73% of the elderly and more than one in three adults received the first dose.

With information from The New York Times.