Canada says AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from troubled Emergent lab 'safe'

Canadian health authorities attempted to assuage concerns Sunday about the safety of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines coming in from a troubled Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, Md. 

The FDA said the facility agreed to "pause new production" while it works with the FDA to correct quality issues. The facility does not have the FDA’s approval to develop or distribute J&J jabs in the U.S.; states have thus far received J&J shipments developed in the Netherlands, where regulators have fully approved operations, The New York Times reported. "Health Canada is aware of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent inspection of the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, Maryland, which noted multiple areas of concern," reads a statement from Health Canada posted Sunday. "Health Canada would like to reassure Canadians that all AstraZeneca vaccines imported into Canada from this facility are safe and of high quality. Janssen vaccines produced at this site have not entered the country."