Nov 5, 2021 - Health

HHS cancels pandemic contract with troubled vaccine maker

Jacob Knutson

The Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore, Maryland. — The Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Department of Health and Human Services canceled a long-standing pandemic preparedness contract with Emergent BioSolutions, a pharmaceutical manufacturer that ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in March, the company disclosed in an earnings report.

Why it matters: The contract, originally worth $650 million, was expanded under Operation Warp Speed to increase the company's capacity to produce materials for COVID-19 vaccines.

Emergent will now forgo roughly $180 million because of the contract's termination, though it still maintains other contracts with the U.S. government and will continue producing vaccines for J&J.

The big picture: Emergent BioSolutions workers at its Baltimore plant contaminated the doses by conflating ingredients between J&J's and AstraZeneca's vaccines.

The plant had multiple procedural failures, including unsanitary conditions near sensitive manufacturing areas and mishandled medical waste, the FDA found during an investigation.
The contamination error forced the plant to halt production for several months, delaying J&J's rollout of its vaccine.

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HHS cancels pandemic contract with troubled vaccine maker

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