- An earlier batch of roughly 15 million doses was ruined at a Baltimore biotech facility.
- More doses need to be inspected to see if they also need to be thrown out, the Times reports.
Another 62 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses are in jeopardy at the Baltimore factory that already ruined 15 million doses of the vaccine, according to a report from the New York Times.
In February, workers at a factory run by Emergent BioSolutions – a biotech firm that’s known for producing anthrax vaccines – unknowingly cross-contaminated roughly 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with AstraZeneca’s, permanently ruining the batch, the New York Times first reported.
Now 62 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that have been made at the factory since have to be checked to ensure they weren’t also contaminated, The Times reported.
If they are contaminated, they will also have to be thrown out.
The factory – which engineers the vaccine but doesn’t bottle it – has produced at least 150 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses in total.
But no doses have been used yet because the factory hasn’t been certified by regulators to distribute the doses to the public, The Times reported.
Emergent BioSolutions told Insider that the company’s quality control systems were “working as designed to detect and isolate any batch that fails to meet quality standards for any reason.”
“No one, including employees at Emergent, wants to see vaccines that cannot be used,” the company said in a statement, adding: “Any allegation that our safety, quality, and compliance systems are not working or that we do not take these responsibilities seriously is unequivocally false.”
