Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical company that developed a one-dose coronavirus vaccine, temporarily closed down its only facility where the treatment is manufactured.
A new report revealed the news on Tuesday and says that the company is now focusing on making a different, possibly more profitable vaccine aimed at combating a different virus. Work at the Leiden facility was paused late last year. The situation could result in a reduced global supply of J&J's coronavirus vaccine.
J&J Pauses Vaccine Production
Officials worldwide are worried that the production pause could lead to hundreds of millions of doses not being delivered to vulnerable communities. However, it is currently unclear whether vaccine supplies have been directly affected by the pharmaceutical company's decision.
Currently, J&J is preparing to have the Leiden facility restart its manufacture of coronavirus vaccines in March. A spokesman for the company, Jake Sargent, did not directly comment regarding the report. In a statement, he said that the company was still focusing on having its vaccine available to be delivered to people in need. Sargent added that J&J was committed to fulfilling its obligations to the international groups trying to boost access to the vaccines, as per CNBC.
The pharmaceutical company is continuing to distribute batches of the vaccine materials to sites that are responsible for bottling and packaging doses. Sargent added that they currently had millions of J&J vaccine doses in inventory.
Many Americans have been skeptical of J&J's coronavirus vaccine since it was approved because it was the only one that only requires a single shot. The treatment comes in comparison to other treatments that require two doses to be fully effective against the deadly virus.
MSN reported that last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended the pausing of the use of J&J's vaccine after reports of a small number of recipients developing rare blood clots. But several studies have supported the brand by showing results that it was effective at preventing hospitalization and death from the coronavirus.
Global Supply of Treatment
To mediate the problem with global supply, the company has hired other facilities to produce the vaccine, but are either not operational yet or have not received regulatory approval to send what they manufactured to bottling stations. J&J's decision to halt vaccine production blindsided officials from two of the company's most important customers: the African Union and Covax.
A co-head of the African Union's vaccine-delivery program, Dr. Ayoade Alakija, said that this was not the time to be switching production lines of any product. They argued that the lives of people worldwide are at stake.
Johnson & Johnson executive, Dr. Penny Heaton, said in December during a meeting of experts advising the U.S. government on vaccines said that the pharmaceutical company's vaccine was the most important, and sometimes only, option in many low- and middle-income countries.
Poorer countries now have more options of coronavirus vaccines to choose from compared to any point since the beginning of the health crisis. This means that the production pause at the Leiden facility may not have a huge impact as some fear, the New York Times reported.
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