J&J Stops Production Of Its COVID-19 Vaccine, Says NYT

(RTTNews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) stopped the production at its Leiden plant, the only one making usable batches of its COVID-19 vaccine, reported the New York Times, quoting sources. As per the report, the halt in production is said to be temporary and the plant will be up and running in a few months' time.

The company said in a statement that at present, it has many doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in inventory and it is still providing all its completed sites, including Aspen, with drug substance needed to produce its shot.

The company said, "We continue to fulfil our contractual obligations in relation to the COVAX Facility and the African Union."

With the Leiden plant in the Netherlands not available, the supply of vaccine will come down by a few hundred million doses, the report said citing sources. It added that other facilities have been decided upon to manufacture the vaccine, but are facing different roadblocks like regulatory approval among others.

The Leiden facility has instead been making an experimental but potentially more profitable vaccine to protect against an unrelated virus, as per sources.

In January, J&J forecast as much as $3.5 billion in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, a 46% jump from last year. In 2021, the company posted $2.39 billion in the sale of the COVID shot, but missing its earlier goal of $2.5 billion.