By Matthew Roscoe • Published: 09 Feb 2022 • 10:09
Leapy Lee: No guidance. CREDIT: West Midlands Police
JOHNSON & Johnson quietly halts production of its Covid vaccine, according to the New York Times. In fact, the company shut down the only plant making usable vaccine batches in Leiden, Netherland late last year. According to the NYT on Tuesday, February 8, J&J, who recently agreed to pay out a huge settlement after being accused of fuelling the opioid crisis in the US, had been using the facility to develop an experimental vaccine and potentially more profitable drug unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic. The halt is temporary and production is expected to start back up after a few months, and a spokesman for the company said that Johnson & Johnson was “focused on ensuring our vaccine is available where people are in need,” according to the report. J&J did not comment on the plant closure reports, but said in a statement to CBS News “we currently have millions of doses of our COVID-19 vaccine in inventory” and “we continue to fulfil our contractual obligations … [to] the African Union.” While the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from Janssen Pharmaceuticals has been linked to rare blood clots and is considered less effective than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s shots by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is extremely important in Africa and low-income countries, which rely on the simpler one-dose shot.
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Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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