The Food and Drug Administration has instructed Johnson & Johnson to throw out 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced at a Baltimore plant out of concern that they may have been contaminated, according to multiple reports.
The FDA determined, after a review, that the doses were "not suitable for use," NBC News reported. They are allowing two batches of the vaccine, totaling 10 million doses, to be used but with a warning that they cannot guarantee that the plant, which is run by Emergent BioSolutions, had upheld manufacturing standards, according to The New York Times.
The Baltimore plant has been shut down for the last two months after the FDA identified possible cross-contamination in the manufacturing process. Along with producing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the plant also makes AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and Emergent had discovered in March that workers had swapped ingredients in one batch.
"These actions followed an extensive review of records, including the production history of the facility and the testing performed to evaluate the quality of the product," Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a release, according to NBC News.
Source: People.com