Syringes and a field of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Paul Hennessy | SOPA Photographs | LightRocket | Getty Photographs
The one Johnson & Johnson facility presently making usable batches of the corporate’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine has briefly halted its manufacturing, a new report said Tuesday.
The Netherlands-based plant has as a substitute targeted on making a distinct, probably extra worthwhile vaccine geared toward a distinct virus, The New York Instances reported, citing folks conversant in the matter.
The pause in manufacturing on the Leiden facility, which started late final yr and is anticipated to final a couple of months, might cut back the availability of J&J’s Covid vaccine by lots of of hundreds of thousands of doses, a type of folks instructed the Instances.
It’s unclear whether or not vaccine provides have been been affected by the corporate’s transfer, in keeping with the report. J&J is making ready to have the Leiden plant restart Covid vaccine manufacturing in March, the Instances reported.
J&J spokesman Jake Sargent did not immediately touch upon the Instances’ article. He instructed CNBC in a press release the corporate is “targeted on making certain our vaccine is obtainable the place individuals are in want,” and that it’s fulfilling its obligations to the worldwide teams attempting to spice up Covid vaccine entry.
J&J is continuous to ship batches of the vaccine supplies to websites that bottle and bundle doses, and “we presently have hundreds of thousands of doses of our Covid-19 vaccine in stock,” Sargent mentioned.
“We’re pleased with the work of our many business companions and the collaborations we’ve got developed to provide our COVID-19 vaccine,” he mentioned.
Polls show that many Individuals have taken a skeptical eye towards J&J Covid vaccine, which is the only one approved by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration that requires only a single shot as a major dose, versus the two-dose routine of vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna.
The FDA final yr really helpful pausing the usage of the J&J vaccine following a small variety of experiences of recipients creating uncommon blood clots. It was additionally discovered to be much less efficient in opposition to the lethal delta variant that emerged final yr.
However a number of research have proven the shot stays efficient at stopping hospitalization and dying from Covid, and a booster dose has been proven efficient in defending in opposition to extreme sickness from the extremely transmissible omicron variant.
The J&J vaccine can be simpler to move and distribute, owing to the truth that it requires only one dose and will be saved with out a freezer, growing entry to individuals who could in any other case be unable to get absolutely vaccinated.