WASHINGTON: The United States authorised Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Saturday, adding a third vaccine to the US arsenal to fight the pandemic as the death toll due to the infection crosses 5.11 lakh.

It is the first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine available in the US, and is one that “checks nearly all the boxes”, CNN reported. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nation’s third coronavirus vaccine. The official emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose vaccine comes after an FDA advisory panel voted 22-0 to recommend authorization on Friday.

The United States has reported more than 28.5 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and over 511,000 reported deaths. The demand of vaccines still far exceeds supply, these vaccines can’t come soon enough.

“A third safe and effective vaccine is very welcome news,” Andy Slavitt, the White House’s senior for Covid Response, tweeted on Friday.The vaccine, made by Janssen, J&J’s vaccine arm, is safe and effective, and it’s considered flexible. It’s a single dose, and it doesn’t require special storage.

The vaccine is authorized for people ages 18 and older.
“We need a vaccine that can be quickly mass-produced,” Dr Greg Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, said Friday. “We’d want to see a reasonable duration of efficacy and protection.

“The Janssen vaccine candidate checks nearly all the boxes.”
The vaccine was tested in more than 44,000 people in the US, South Africa, and Latin America. Globally, it was 66.1 percent effective against moderate to severe/critical Covid-19 at least four weeks after vaccination, according to an FDA analysis