 Shares of Johnson & Johnson took a 1.4% hit in morning trading Friday, after a report that health officials decided the drugmaker needs to throw out millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine because of possible contamination. The New York Times reported Friday, citing people familiar with the situation, that after weeks of review, the Food and Drug Administration told J&J to discard 60 million doses of its vaccine made at a Baltimore plant under federal review, which is operated by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. , because of possible contamination. The FDA said Friday that it was authorizing emergency use of two batches of vaccines made at the Baltimore facility, even though it said it is "not yet ready" to include the plant as an authorized facility for the vaccine. The NYT report comes after the FDA approved the extension of the shelf life of J&J's one-dose vaccine, to 4 1/2 months from 3 months, as supply piled up. J&J's stock has gained 3.6% over the past three months, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 8.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has tacked on 5.9%.
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