Canada has announced that it will forgo distribution of the 300,000-dose batch of Johnson & Johnson's Covid vaccine it received earlier this year, due to "concerns" related to its production in a US laboratory.
This Janssen vaccine was approved by Ottawa in March and the first 300,000 doses were received the following month, but the Ministry of Health immediately suspended distribution due to suspicions about the quality of the product. "Due to concerns raised about a drug developed at the Emerging BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, Maryland, Health Canada will not distribute the batch received in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians and Canadians."the ministry said in a statement.
This substance was "contaminated with components from another vaccine" at the time of manufacture and upon examination of the vials, Canadian health authorities have concluded that it does not meet standards.
A delegation will "inspect" the Maryland facility this summer and Canada will not accept new shipments of vaccines from this facility until then. A few hours earlier, US health authorities had announced that "several batches" of Johnson and Johnson vaccines produced at this Baltimore facility, about 60 million doses according to the New York Times, should be discarded.
