Region Braces For Drastic Reduction In Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccines
WAMU | APR 9, 5:22 PM
Region Braces For Drastic Reduction In Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccines
Dominique Maria Bonessi
https://twitter.com/dbonessi
The regions health departments are bracing for a roughly 85% decrease in doses of one type of COVID vaccine between this week and next.
Maryland is likely to receive only 11,000 Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines next week, compared to the 89,000 it received this week. Virginia is expecting to receive 14,800 vaccines, compared to the 124,000 it received this week. And, the District will receive around 1,300 next week, compared to the 10,800 from this week. The shortage is likely due to the 15 million botched doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at their manufacturing plant in Baltimore, according to Dr. Travis Gayles, Montgomery Countys health officer.
We are entirely dependent on weekly allocations from the federal government, which we have consistently been told would either remain stable or increase, Dennis Schrader, the states health secretary, said in a statement to vaccine providers earlier in the week.
The decline comes after a batch of vaccines had to be destroyed at the
Emergent BioSolutions manufacturing plant in Baltimore last week because it did not meet the companys quality standards. ... Records obtained by
The Baltimore Sun show that the plant has had numerous problems, including deficient space to prevent contamination, insufficient employee training, and lack of standardization for quality-control measures.
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