Shipments of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be down by 80 percent nationwide next week as the company struggles with manufacturing problems, according to a published report.
Just 700,000 doses have been allocated, compared to the 4.9 million doses that were distributed across the country this week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The J&J shot was expected to significantly boost the pace at which Americans become fully vaccinated because it requires only a single shot.
While the pharma giant is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the main vaccine ingredients are produced at a plant in Europe.
The troubling news comes a little over a week after the company reported that a batch of its key vaccine ingredient didn’t meet quality control standards at a Baltimore facility.
At the time, two Biden administration officials assured NBC News that this setback would not affect their timeline to have enough doses for the U.S. adult population by the end of May.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is made by the company’s Janssen subsidiary and was shown to be 86 percent effective in preventing severe forms of Covid-19. It received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in late February.
The company rolled out about 4 million doses almost immediately, but shipments have slowed significantly since then.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
