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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFactory Mix-Up Ruins Up to 15 Million Vaccine Doses From Johnson & Johnson
WASHINGTON Workers at a plant in Baltimore manufacturing two coronavirus vaccines accidentally conflated the ingredients several weeks ago, contaminating up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine and forcing regulators to delay authorization of the plants production lines.
The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, a manufacturing partner to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish company whose vaccine has yet to be authorized for use in the United States. Federal officials attributed the mistake to human error.
The mix-up has delayed future shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses in the United States while the Food and Drug Administration investigates what occurred. Johnson & Johnson has moved to strengthen its control over Emergent BioSolutions work to avoid additional quality lapses.
The mistake is a major embarrassment both for Johnson & Johnson, whose one-dose vaccine has been credited with speeding up the national immunization program, and for Emergent, its subcontractor, which has faced fierce criticism for its heavy lobbying for federal contracts, especially for the governments emergency health stockpile.
The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, a manufacturing partner to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish company whose vaccine has yet to be authorized for use in the United States. Federal officials attributed the mistake to human error.
The mix-up has delayed future shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses in the United States while the Food and Drug Administration investigates what occurred. Johnson & Johnson has moved to strengthen its control over Emergent BioSolutions work to avoid additional quality lapses.
The mistake is a major embarrassment both for Johnson & Johnson, whose one-dose vaccine has been credited with speeding up the national immunization program, and for Emergent, its subcontractor, which has faced fierce criticism for its heavy lobbying for federal contracts, especially for the governments emergency health stockpile.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/us/politics/johnson-johnson-coronavirus-vaccine.html
How One Firm Put an Extraordinary Burden on the U.S.s Troubled Stockpile
An investigation by The New York Times found a hidden explanation: Government purchases for the Strategic National Stockpile, the countrys emergency medical reserve where such equipment is kept, have largely been driven by the demands and financial interests of a handful of biotech firms that have specialized in products that address terrorist threats rather than infectious disease.
Chief among them is Emergent BioSolutions, a Maryland-based company now manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines for AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Last year, as the pandemic raced across the country, the government paid Emergent $626 million for products that included vaccines to fight an entirely different threat: a terrorist attack using anthrax.
Throughout most of the last decade, the government has spent nearly half of the stockpiles half-billion-dollar annual budget on the companys anthrax vaccines, The Times found. That left the government with less money to buy supplies needed in a pandemic, despite repeatedly being advised to do so.
Under normal circumstances, Emergents relationship with the federal stockpile would be of little public interest an obscure contractor in an obscure corner of the federal bureaucracy applying the standard tools of Washington, like well-connected lobbyists and campaign contributions, to create a business heavily dependent on taxpayer dollars.
An investigation by The New York Times found a hidden explanation: Government purchases for the Strategic National Stockpile, the countrys emergency medical reserve where such equipment is kept, have largely been driven by the demands and financial interests of a handful of biotech firms that have specialized in products that address terrorist threats rather than infectious disease.
Chief among them is Emergent BioSolutions, a Maryland-based company now manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines for AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Last year, as the pandemic raced across the country, the government paid Emergent $626 million for products that included vaccines to fight an entirely different threat: a terrorist attack using anthrax.
Throughout most of the last decade, the government has spent nearly half of the stockpiles half-billion-dollar annual budget on the companys anthrax vaccines, The Times found. That left the government with less money to buy supplies needed in a pandemic, despite repeatedly being advised to do so.
Under normal circumstances, Emergents relationship with the federal stockpile would be of little public interest an obscure contractor in an obscure corner of the federal bureaucracy applying the standard tools of Washington, like well-connected lobbyists and campaign contributions, to create a business heavily dependent on taxpayer dollars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/emergent-biosolutions-anthrax-coronavirus.html
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Factory Mix-Up Ruins Up to 15 Million Vaccine Doses From Johnson & Johnson (Original Post)
womanofthehills
Apr 2021
OP
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,853 posts)1. Yep. This has been well spread around.
Happened more than a month ago.
womanofthehills
(8,703 posts)2. Article update date is April 5 - more info coming out
Top Official Warned That Covid Vaccine Plant Had to Be Monitored Closely
An Operation Warp Speed report last June flagged staffing and quality control concerns at Emergent BioSolutions factory in Baltimore. The troubled plant recently had to throw out up to 15 million doses. - from NYT
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,853 posts)3. Right. The original article is over a month ago.