J&J Says Covid-19 Vaccine Ingredient Batch Did Not Meet Quality Standards

Johnson & Johnson said a batch of the main ingredient in its new Covid-19 vaccine did not meet the quality standards of a contract manufacturer and the doses were not being distributed.

J&J said on Wednesday it detected the problem while performing quality checks at a plant owned by contract manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions Inc., which was in the process of start-up but had not finished taking doses.

J&J manufactures the main ingredient for vaccine doses for the United States at one of the company’s factories. The lack of quality did not affect these doses, which were given to people in the United States.

And although he scrapped the problematic batch, J&J said he would be able to produce enough doses to meet US production targets in the coming months.

J&J did not disclose the nature of the quality loss or the number of doses affected.