Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose corona vaccine gets green light from EU Medicines Agency

As expected, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 for approval in the EU and Norway.

The EMA announces the recommendation on Twitter on Wednesday. The vaccine is the fourth to be approved in the EU. The vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have already been approved. 

While these three are administered in two doses, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is given in one dose.

Clinical tests have shown that the new vaccine can be up to 72%effective, the New York Times writes.

Following the recommendation from the EMA, the EU Commission has to formally grant the vaccine a conditional market approval so that distribution can start in the EU and Norway.

The EU has entered into an agreement to receive 200 million doses this year. The first 55 million doses will arrive in the second quarter of the year, but the manufacturer announced this week that supply problems could make it difficult to meet the targets by the end of June.

Delivery challenges

According to Reuters, a high-ranking EU source said that the manufacturer does not believe it is impossible to achieve the goal, but that challenges with the delivery of ingredients and equipment put the company under pressure. 

Delays in deliveries will be bad news for the EU, which has already been criticized for being slow with the roll-out of vaccines.

The vaccine, which is now getting the “thumbs-up,” was developed by Belgian Janssen Pharmaceutica, part of Johnson & Johnson. 

In the United States, the company enlists the help of competitor Merck to produce the COVID-19 vaccine.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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