The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to discard the Janssen vaccine produced at a plant in Baltimore, Maryland, where an accident occurred while manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine.
The New York Times reported that the FDA made the decision, citing sources, and reported that there are 60 million doses of Janssen vaccine to be discarded.
Earlier in March, the Baltimore plant of 'Emergent Biosolutions', a Janssen vaccine manufacturer, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, had an accident in which different vaccine ingredients were mixed.
The material was mixed on the production line of this plant, which produces not only Janssen vaccines but also AstraZeneca vaccines.
Because of this, 15 million doses of Janssen vaccine were discarded at the time, and factory operations were halted.
In addition, 100 million doses of Janssen vaccine and 70 million doses of AstraZeneca produced at this plant were also excluded from distribution.
FDA has determined that 60 million doses of Janssen vaccine are of concern through follow-up investigation.
The FDA plans to authorize the use of 10 million doses of Janssen vaccine for distribution in the United States or for vaccine support abroad.
However, even if distribution is permitted for the 10 million servings produced at the Baltimore plant, a warning will also be attached stating that 'we cannot guarantee that correct manufacturing processes have been followed'.
The FDA has yet to decide whether to allow the restart of the Baltimore plant, which has been shut down for two months.
The New York Times predicted that Pfizer and Moderna have sufficient vaccines, so even if 60 million doses of Janssen's vaccine are discarded, there will be no problem with vaccine supply in the United States.
However, he pointed out that mass scrapping of Janssen's vaccine could hurt US President Joe Biden's plans to provide vaccines to foreign countries.