Europe approves Merck’s plant to make J&J COVID-19 vaccine
6:59 pm Thursday, October 07th, 2021
(Reuters) – The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday it had approved U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc’s manufacturing site in West Point, Pennsylvania to make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Earlier this year, Merck agreed to make its rival’s shot, after scrapping two of its own experimental COVID-19 vaccines.
The U.S. government at that time invoked the Defense Production Act to help equip two Merck plants to make the J&J vaccine.
The EMA said Merck’s site, to become operational immediately, was expected to support the continued supply of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
