Johnson & Johnson says a batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses failed to meet quality standards and can’t be used, but Maine’s CDC says the state’s shipment was not affected.
According to an email from Maine CDC Communications Director Robert Long, federal officials have confirmed that Maine will receive the full scheduled allocation of more than 20,000 doses of the vaccine next week.
He said the J&J doses Maine will receive weren’t manufactured in the facility that produced the doses that failed to meet quality standards. He said the vaccine coming to Maine will be safe and effective.
It comes after an ingredient mix-up at a manufacturing plant in Baltimore, which contaminated up to 15 million doses of the vaccine, according to reporting in the New York Times. The error doesn’t affect any doses that are currently being used or delivered, including those slated to be shipped out to states next week.
