Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Doses Delayed After a Batch Was Ruined
About 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were ruined after workers at a manufacturing plant accidentally conflated the vaccines' ingredients. This causes a delay in the authorization of the production lines.
Emergent BioSolutions is managing the operations of the plant. They are also the manufacturing partner to both J&J and AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, federal officials said that the mistake was a human error, according to The New York Times report.
J&J has already made a move to strengthen its control over its plant to avoid any possible quality lapses in the future.
The good news is this does not affect the J&J vaccine doses that are currently being delivered and used nationwide, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
Government officials said there is still enough to meet U.S. President Joe Biden's commitment to provide enough vaccine by the end of May to provide to every adult.
Pfizer-BooNTech and Moderna are seen to continue delivering as expected.
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Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
J&J shot earned U.S. authorization on Feb. 27. Its executives have then committed to deliver 20 million doses to the U.S. by the end of March, while they will be delivering 100 million doses by the end of June, according to a Business Insider report.
J&J aims to produce one billion doses for this year.
"We are pleased we have met our commitment to deliver enough single-shot vaccines by the end of March to enable the full vaccination of more than 20 million people in the United States," J&J was quoted in a statement.
The company also included in their statement about the failed batch due to human error, saying the said batch was never advanced to the filling and finishing stages of their manufacturing process.
J&J signed a five-year deal with Emergent BioSolutions with the first two years of the agreement valued at $480 million.
The Biden administration has opened a massive vaccination campaign in January. The daily vaccination rate has remained sturdy at 1.7 million shots, as reported by the White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.
Meanwhile, other vaccine candidates have been reporting other reports of their study.
Pfizer-BioNTech announced on Wednesday the results of its COVID-19 vaccine study on kids as young as 12, saying it is safe and offers strong protection.
Most of the COVID vaccines rolled out around the world are only applicable to adults. However, vaccinating children has become one of the priorities to help schools reopen and make it look a little more normal after months of disruption, according to a WCNC report.
The company said the kids have similar side effects to young adults. The main side effects are pain, fever, chills, and fatigue, especially after the second dose.
Dr. Philip J. Landrigan of Boston College said the results are promising, with kids not mostly complying with masking and distancing.
"So, something that gives them hard protection and takes them out of the mix of spreading the virus is all for the good," Landrigan was quoted in a report.
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