Johnson & Johnson dumps 15M vaccine doses, citing quality control issue

By Teddy Grant Published: April 1, 2021

Johnson & Johnson dumps 15M vaccine doses, citing quality control issue

A vial with the Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine is seen at the Vaxmobile, at the Uniondale Hempstead Senior Center, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Uniondale, N.Y. The Vaxmobile, is a COVID-19 mobile vaccination unit, sponsored by a partnership between Mount Sinai South Nassau and Town of Hempstead to bring the one-dose vaccine directly to hard-hit communities in the area. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Johnson & Johnson discarded a batch of COVID-19 vaccines made by a subcontractor because it failed to meet quality control standards, the company announced Wednesday.

About 15 million doses couldn’t be used, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS This Morning on Thursday.

J&J said in a statement to CBS:

“Quality control process identified one batch of drug substance that did not meet quality standards at Emergent BioSolutions, a site not yet authorized to manufacture drug substance for our COVID-19 vaccine. This batch was never advanced to the filling and finishing stages of our manufacturing process. This is an example of the rigorous quality control applied to each batch of drug substance.”

The company said it will still be able to meet its goal of delivering 100 million doses by the end of June, according to CBS News.

Johnson & Johnson is working with 10 companies, including Emergent BioSolutions, to help manufacture its vaccine.

According to CBS News, Emergent’s Baltimore factory, where the issue occurred, was not approved by the FDA.