Johnson & Johnson to take over Baltimore Emergent plant for foreseeable future to primarily make jus

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

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Kaitlan Collins
@kaitlancollins
·
Apr 3, 2021
Confirmed NYT that Health & Human Services Department has directed Johnson & Johnson to take over Baltimore Emergent plant for foreseeable future to primarily make just J&J vaccines, not AstraZeneca. This comes after quality control issues ruined up to 15 mil potential J&J doses.

Kaitlan Collins
@kaitlancollins
Backstory here:

"Quality" issue at Baltimore vaccine plant delays some of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine
cnn.com
https://t.co/g18skX7qRj?amp=1

[JI7]

1. Were they planning to make AstraZeneca ?

[soothsayer]

2. I hadn't heard that either. Bit puzzling

[LisaL]

3. They were making both J&J and AstraZeneca.

Per earlier NYT article, they mixed up the vectors and used AstraZeneca vector to make J&J vaccine, which of course meant it wouldn't be J&J vaccine anymore.

[JI7]

4. Has AZ been approved in the US ?

[LisaL]

5. No.

But the plant was already making it.

[JI7]

6. I didn't know they can do that

[Orangepeel]

8. it wasn't necessarily for the US

[OnDoutside]

10. Yes they can. I work for another of the 3rd party manufacturers who

have also been making the J&J vaccine in the US. Another plant here in Europe has been making Novavax for their client, in advance of EU regulatory approval.

[LisaL]

11. They were making AstraZeneca since AstraZeneca expected to get approval.

And then if AstraZeneca were approved, it would have a supply ready for US to administer.

[Grasswire2]

7. Yay!

So many people are hoping for the J&J, and it's so much more useful for people with transportation issues or rural location.

[LisaL]

12. J&J's advantage is that it's a lot easier to store.

Only one shot, and it doesn't require ultra cold storage temperatures.

[dalton99a]

9. Incompetent fucked-up company's revenues skyrocketed during the Trump administration

The FDA also criticized Emergent for carelessness in the handling of rejected materials in the Bayview plant. An inspector observed items in a “reject cage” that did not have reject labels, and wrote that “separate or defined areas to prevent contamination or mix-ups are deficient.”

The inspection was the most recent in a series of critical reports from the FDA about Emergent, including one following a December 2017 inspection at a plant in Canton, Massachusetts, in which the FDA said the company had not corrected “continued low level mold and yeast isolates” found in the facility.

Emergent’s revenues skyrocketed during the Trump administration, from about $523 million in 2015 to more than $1.5 billion in 2020. Emergent has invested heavily in lobbying the federal government, according to disclosure records that show the company spent $3.6 million on lobbying in 2020 alone.

Emergent is one of about 10 companies that Johnson & Johnson is using to speed up manufacturing of its recently approved coronavirus vaccine, the company said. The Bayview factory where the tainted vaccine ingredient was found had not yet been approved by the FDA, so no vaccine in circulation is affected. Emergent declined to comment.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-emergent-covid-vaccine-baltimore-20210401-ndpiqyyfbjd7fiebbvc55l5tpi-story.html