Emergent BioSolutions, a government contractor hired to produce hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses, hid evidence of quality control problems from the FDA six weeks before it issued an alert that 15 million doses had been contaminated, The New York Times reported May 10.
The report, released by the House and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, said that nearly 400 million doses of vaccines had to be destroyed "due to poor quality control," including about 240 million doses in late 2020 and early 2021. No contaminated doses were released to the public.
Matt Hartwig, a spokesperson for Emergent, told the Times the company "remains committed to being a trusted partner of the U.S. and allied governments," and added they had not seen the report yet.
The U.S. terminated its $628 million COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal with the company Nov. 4. In March 2021, workers at Emergent's Baltimore plant accidentally conflated the ingredients of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, ruining about 15 million doses and prompting a monthslong shutdown.