On June 10, local time, Johnson & Johnson said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the expiration date of its new crown vaccine by six weeks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that many unused Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available in this country. This announcement was issued after the expiration before the end of the month.

This move is believed to help alleviate concerns about millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine that is about to expire.

　　The US Food and Drug Administration said on the 10th that the shelf life of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine has changed from three months to four and a half months.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that studies have shown that the vaccine can be kept stable for 4.5 months when refrigerated at a temperature of 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit.

　　According to reports, before the changes are made, concerns about the possible expiration of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine have intensified.

　　Ohio Governor Dwayne recently issued an "urgent appeal" for more vaccines, because Ohio has about 200,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine that will expire on June 23.

And Ohio does not currently have a legal option to ship vaccines to other states or other countries.

　　States such as Wisconsin and Oklahoma have also been asking the federal government to provide guidance on how to deal with expired doses.

　　Previously, the state and federal governments were responsible for guiding how to deal with expired unused vaccines.

But recently, some states stated that they have received conflicting information.

　　Maryland State Department of Health Assistant Secretary Brian Moroz said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently advised the state to shelve expired Johnson & Johnson vaccines because the agency is waiting for the federal government to review whether it can extend the shelf life.

But he said that the CDC subsequently changed the guidelines and recommended that expired doses should still be discarded.

　　According to state and federal health officials, the federal government has temporarily stopped the shipment of Johnson & Johnson's new crown vaccine to help the backlog of unused vaccines complete the injection before the expiration date.

Health officials in Maryland, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois and other states said they were unable to order new Johnson & Johnson vaccines in recent weeks.

It is currently impossible to determine the reason for the federal government's suspension of shipments.

A spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Health said they were told that there were no doses available to order due to issues related to vaccine production.

　　Hospital and state officials said they have a large number of Johnson & Johnson vaccines that will expire later this month, partly because of the April decision to suspend injections due to investigations of rare blood clot reports, which forced states and suppliers to cancel a large number of appointments. And led to an oversupply.

And in some areas, people have become more worried about the safety of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

(Producing Li Jiali)

Editor in charge: [Sun Jingbo]