Final decision on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate expected soon by FDA

🔊 Listen to this

WASHINGTON — Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis released Wednesday by U.S. regulators.

An advisory committee will meet Friday to review the vaccine’s data and vote to recommend whether the the vaccine should be authorized for emergency use in the U.S. The FDA will have the final say.

If authorized by the FDA for emergency use, Johnson & Johnson could start shipping vaccine doses out across the country within a week, doctors said.

The vaccine is a single-dose shot, which could help speed up vaccinations, doctors said. It can also be stored in regular refrigerators, unlike the Pfizer & Moderna vaccines that rely on ultra-cold storage.

Once the doses start arriving, doctors say you could start to see an impact in about 3 weeks.

[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”आगे पढ़े ” less=”Read less”]

“I would take any vaccine that’s available to me as long as it is approved by FDA. Doesn’t matter what vaccine,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad, UW Medicine Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation.

“Why? Respective of its effectiveness. Why? Because it’s a race against time. The moment I’m protected, the better for me, and the better for my community. We shouldn’t wait and delay. And we don’t do it for other vaccines.”

If the FDA clears Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use in the U.S., it won’t boost vaccine supplies significantly right away. Only a few million doses – approximately 3-4 million — are expected to be ready for shipping in the first week.

The drug maker expects to provide about 20 million doses by the end of March.

[/expander_maker]