AstraZeneca is forced to scout for new COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing partner, dealing the launch another setback

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine launch has been hit with safety concerns and supply shortfalls in Europe, and now the drugmaker is responding to yet another setback—this time in the U.S.

With the Biden administration ordering Johnson & Johnson to take over an error-prone Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore, AstraZeneca needs to secure new manufacturing capacity. The United States will assist in that search.

AstraZeneca is working with the government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to “maximize and accelerate US production of COVID-19 vaccines,” the company said in a statement.