U.S. FDA says 60 million doses of J&J vaccine need to be destroyed: report

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has told Johnson & Johnson that up to 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine produced at a Baltimore factory need to be destroyed due to possible contamination, a news report said Friday.

The New York Times report also noted additional vaccines from the Baltimore plant may need to be destroyed, adding the FDA plans to allow the use of some 10 million doses from the troubled facility.

” Federal regulators have told Johnson & Johnson that about 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine produced at a troubled Baltimore factory cannot be used because of possible contamination,” the report said, citing “people familiar with the situation.”

The report noted the Baltimore plant has been shut down for about two months and the vaccines in question were produced before its shutdown.

The report comes after the U.S. delivered some 1 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to South Korea to help inoculate the country’s armed service members, who President Joe Biden earlier said work shoulder-to-shoulder with their American counterparts on a daily basis.

The U.S. maintains some 28,500 troops on the Korean Peninsula.

It was not clear whether any of the doses provided to South Korea came from the Baltimore plant, while inquiries to related U.S. government offices were not immediately answered.

Seoul began administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.