Workers at a plant that ruined tens of millions of J&J Covid vaccine doses have been unable to bathe or change garments

Employees work in a laboratory at Emergent Biosolutions in Baltimore, Maryland on February 8, 2021.

Michael Robinson Chavez | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Some employees at the Emergent BioSolutions Baltimore plant were unable to shower or change clothes, which is necessary to work at the factory, and it likely helped ruin millions of Covid-19 cans from Johnson & Johnson’s key committee.

Inspections of the Bayview facility carried out last year also revealed mold problems, poor disinfection of facility equipment and inadequate staff training, employees of the selected coronavirus crisis subcommittee said in the memo. The committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday examining the biopharmaceutical company’s role in the destruction of the J&J recordings.

Although inspectors found poor conditions at the plant, top executives received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses last year and were commended for their leadership by the company’s board of directors. This is evident from other documents published by the committee.

According to one document, aspiring CEO Robert Kramer received a bonus of $ 1.2 million last year, while three other executives received payments of more than $ 400,000.

The U.S. government awarded the company a $ 628 million contract to manufacture coronavirus vaccines last year.

Emergent did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Wednesday’s hearing comes more than a month after the Biden government hired J&J to run the Baltimore plant after US officials learned that Emergent, a federal company, makes vaccines for J&J and AstraZeneca made the ingredients for the two shots.

An inspection by the Food and Drug Administration later revealed that the facility was unsanitary and unsuitable for making the shots. In a 13-page report, the inspectors wrote that the facility used to manufacture the vaccine “was not kept in a clean and sanitary condition” and “was not of the appropriate size, design and location for cleaning, maintenance and to facilitate proper operation. “”

FDA inspectors said they observed paint peeling in multiple areas and damaging walls, which could affect “Emergent’s ability to adequately clean and disinfect”. They also found that when handling waste or materials used to make vaccines, employees did not follow standard operating procedures to ensure they were not contaminated.

The facility has not been approved by the FDA to manufacture or distribute Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, and none of the factory-made doses have been marketed for use in the United States. Emergent has agreed to cease production of materials until the issues identified by the FDA are resolved.

Emergent said at the time it was required to work with the FDA and J&J to resolve the issues.

“While we are never satisfied with defects in our production facilities or processes, these can be corrected and we will take quick action to correct them,” it said in a statement on April 21.