US: 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine destroyed

While the third-world countries are struggling to get coronavirus vaccine, a factory in the US ruined nearly 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson is a single-shot vaccine, which has been marketing itself as a way to boost the speed of inoculation drives all across the world.

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The pharmaceutical company claims the authorities found a batch of doses at a Baltimore plant, run by Emergent BioSolutions, "that did not meet quality standards". 

These doses have been discarded now and the company claims that the batch "was never advanced to the filling and finishing stages of our manufacturing process".

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However, the company has not confirmed the specific number of affected doses and has not stated the exact reason as to why the doses did not meet "quality standards".

The FDA said it is "aware of the situation" and the pharma company claimed it to be an important step as "quality and safety continue to be our top priority".

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Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson will also be sending another team of experts on the site to "supervise, direct and support all manufacturing of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine".

While this comes as a big blow to the production rate, the company is still hoping to meet its set target by the year-end.

"We continue to expect to deliver our Covid-19 vaccine at a rate of more than one billion doses by the end of 2021," Johnson & Johnson said.