The European Medicines Agency on Thursday gave the green light to Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine, handing the European Union’s 27 nations a fourth vaccine to try to speed up the bloc’s much-criticized vaccination rollout.
The EU medicines regulator advised that the vaccine be cleared for use in all adults over 18 “after a thorough evaluation” of J&J’s data found the vaccine met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality.
“With this latest positive opinion, authorities across the European Union will have another option to combat the pandemic and protect the lives and health of their citizens,” said Emer Cooke, EMA’s executive director.
The EMA has already recommended COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca —but all of those vaccines require two doses, several weeks apart. Production delays have also plagued all three vaccine manufacturers.
In its statement Thursday, the EMA said the J&J vaccine was about 67% effective. It said most side effects were usually mild or moderate and cleared within a couple of days after vaccination. The most common side effects were pain at the injection site, headache, tiredness, muscle pain and nausea.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave an emergency authorizatio n to the J&J shot in late February. Health experts hope that having a one-dose vaccine will speed efforts to immunize the world against COVID-19, especially given the recent infection spikes in Europe driven by worrying new variants.
The EU has struggled to quickly roll out shots and immunize its most vulnerable citizens. It ranks far behind countries including Israel, Britain, Chile and the U.S.
J&J said it has committed to providing the EU with its pre-ordered 200 million doses starting in the second quarter. The EU also has options to buy more vaccines at a later date.
Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline in new infections. The World Health Organization’s European office blamed that surge partly on virus variants, including one first identified in Britain that is thought to be 50% more transmissible.
A massive study that spanned three continents found the J&J vaccine was 85% effective in protecting against severe illness, hospitalizations and death. That protection remained strong even in countries like South Africa, where variants have been identified that appear to be less susceptible to other vaccines, including the one made by AstraZeneca.
The J&J vaccine can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, similar to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which should make rolling out its use easier than vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, which require colder storage.
J&J’s shot uses a cold virus like a Trojan horse to carry the spike gene of the coronavirus into the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to prime the immune system in case the real virus comes along. It’s the same technology the company used to make its Ebola vaccine and similar to COVID-19 shots made by AstraZeneca and China’s CanSino Biologics.
J&J is also seeking emergency authorization of its vaccine in Britain and by the World Health Organization. The company is hoping to make about 1 billion doses this year. The vaccine has also been approved for use in Bahrain and Canada.
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