The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced, on Friday, 11 June, that two batches of “critically needed supply” of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are to be made available.
This is a significant as the FDA has been investigating vaccines produced at the Emergent Bio Solutions Plant in Baltimore after it came to light that some of the batches may have been contaminated.
On Friday, the Health Department announced that South Africa will receive 300 000 doses from the batch of vaccine that has been greenlit for emergency use.
He Health Department confirmed that the FDA announced that two batches of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine produced at the Baltimore plant are safe and have been cleared for emergency use
The fate of the country’s cache of Johnson and Johnson vaccine stored in Gqeberha, however, still hangs in the balance.
The department added that a “worst case scenario” is very much on the cards, as there is a “real possibility” that the embargoed vaccine may not be suitable for use in South Africa. However, the call is SAHPRA’s to make.
The department said 300 000 doses will be shipped to South Africa, as a matter of extreme urgency. The FDA also announced that the doses of Johnson and Johnson have an extended expiry date and can be stored at a temperature of between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius (in a normal bar fridge) for four to five months, instead of three.
The FDA continues to evaluate more of the batches at the plant and the department hopes that more Johnson and Johnson doses will be made available to South Africa and the international community in due course.
