White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures

[Celerity]

The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356



The Biden administration has stood by Johnson & Johnson as the vaccine maker struggled to deliver promised doses of its Covid-19 vaccine — but privately, frustrated senior health officials have largely written off the shot, according to seven people with knowledge of the matter. Johnson & Johnson, which has a long history of successful vaccine development, was one of the government’s first and biggest bets in the coronavirus vaccine race. But the company has faced an unrelenting series of setbacks, including a contractor mix-up that ruined 15 million doses and revealed serious safety and hygiene lapses, and concerns that the vaccine may be linked to recent reports of rare, severe blood clots among recipients.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee will meet Friday for the second time to review the possible blood clot link, and federal health officials are expected to update their current recommendation to pause use of the shot. But the Biden administration is bracing for yet another potential complication: If ongoing tests of remaining vaccine batches made by J&J’s contractor Emergent BioSolutions reveal further contamination, it could take the vaccine maker up to four months to replace those doses through manufacturing at alternate facilities, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Some of the problems J&J has faced are failures of management or oversight; others appear to be pure bad luck. But the chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic. Instead, the administration has concluded that the company can’t be counted on for any significant production until it gets the green light from regulators to resume vaccination, according to two sources. Federal officials say they have enough doses from Pfizer and Moderna to vaccinate all American adults. But officials are hopeful that J&J can iron out its problems and still be of use for booster shots down the line, and for immunization in other countries as the U.S. ramps up its vaccine diplomacy.

snip

[Phoenix61]

1. Funny, the article doesn't match the headline at all.

Talk about a hit piece. nt

[Celerity]

2. the first sentence

The Biden administration has stood by Johnson & Johnson as the vaccine maker struggled to deliver promised doses of its Covid-19 vaccine — but privately, frustrated senior health officials have largely written off the shot, according to seven people with knowledge of the matter.

[Phoenix61]

3. Senior health officials aren't the White House. nt

[Celerity]

4. if they are under the Executive Branch's purview they are

[Xoan]

5. NO.

[Celerity]

7. yes

[BannonsLiver]

9. Typical Politico

And, we can always count on Cut & Paste to chum the waters here with this kind of material.

[RockRaven]

6. Let's hope "senior health officials" keep their eye on the fact that we don't just need to

vaccinate all Americans, we need to vaccinate everyone in the world. And we can't just throw money at that, we probably need to be directly involved. It's in our economic and national security interests to do so, never mind the ethical implications of being able to help but choosing not to.

The J&J vaccine has the potential to be massively useful in the task of vaccinating billions of people in countries where the logistics/infrastructure aren't going to support the distribution of mRNA vaccines. Figure out the problems and fix them as soon as possible, even if it isn't timely vis a vis American vaccination schedules.

[Deep State Witch]

8. Concerned about people who can't get MRNA Vaccines

The fiancee of an acquaintance has a history of anaphylactic shock, and can't get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. He was scheduled to get the J&J, but is now in limbo. I'm wondering if they will allow J&J to be issued conditionally, for people like this guy.

[Kingofalldems]

10. Oops, nope.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Wrong.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215368501